Five-times Tour de France winner Armstrong refuted Tuesday the new doping accusations which have appeared in Europe.

"It is not the first time," the American told a news conference where Discovery Communications announced to be the new sponsor of Armstrong's cycling team. "That is why I have begun legal proceedings in England and France."

Tailwind Sports, owner and operator of Armstrong's team, said Armstrong would begin libel proceedings against the authors and publishers of "L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong".

The book focuses on statements attributed to Emma O'Reilly, a physiotherapist who worked with Armstrong from 1998-2000 and claims Armstrong used the banned blood booster EPO.

Proceedings will also begin against L'Express magazine in France and the Sunday Times in England which published extracts of the book co-written by award-winning Sunday Times journalist David Walsh and Pierre Ballester, a cycling specialist formerly with L'Equipe sports newspaper.

Discovery, claiming itself the new sponsor of the US Postal service for three years from 2005 on Tuesday, will be making itself known this year with a logo on the team's shirt but from the beginning of next year the outfit will be known as the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team.

Discovery Channel, one of the biggest cable television stations in the US which has educational and leisure programs, is part of the company Discovery Communications which runs numerous themed television stations.