Armstrong pleads before panel

Washington: Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong asked a federal judge to dismiss the US government`s fraud case against him in a hearing, claiming prosecutors missed statute of limitations deadlines to file.

US District Judge Robert Wilkins was expected to make a ruling within 30 days on the matter but was not expected to toss out the case, in which the US Department of Justice says Armstrong made false claims while accepting $40 million in sponsorship money from the US Postal Service from 1998-2004.

Prosecutors say Armstrong`s admission last January in a television interview that he took performance-enhancing drugs while crossing the finish line first at the Tour de France from 1999-2005 violated the deal and opens the 42-year-old Texan to treble damages that could be recovered under the False Claims Act. Armstrong was stripped of those victories and handed a life ban from the sport.