Lance Armstrong - Former Armstrong Aide Claims He Saw Steroid

Six-time TOUR DE FRANCE champ LANCE ARMSTRONG has been accused of possessing steroids by a former personal assistant.

MIKE ANDERSON, who had worked for Armstrong for about two years before he was dismissed, alleges that he found a steroid in the cycling great's Spanish apartment early last year (04).

Armstrong's attorney TIMOTHY HERMAN blasts, "It's a shakedown and it has been from the very beginning. We are not going to be blackmailed or pay extortion money to hide something that isn'ttrue."

Anderson has been in a legal fight with Armstrong over the star's alleged promises to help him start a bike shop.

In his Texas court filing, Anderson says that in "early 2004" he was cleaning the bathroom in Armstrong's apartment in Girona and found a white box labelled "like any other prescription drug" but did not have a doctor's prescription attached.

Written on the box was the trademark name "Androstenine, or something very close to this," says Anderson, adding that he did not confront his employer about the box for fear of being fired.

Anderson claims it was the only time he found the alleged substance and that he never saw Armstrong take any steroids or other banned substances.

Cancer survivor Armstrong, boyfriend of SHERYL CROW, has long maintained that he is drug-free.