Three-time Tour of France winner Lance Armstrong has defended the Italian doctor on trial for allegedly giving professional cyclists banned performance-enhancing drugs.

Armstrong, who traveled to Italy to compete in Saturday's Milan-to-Sanremo cycling classic, told Italy's largest sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport that he considered Michele Ferrari "not guilty".

"I know him. He's a proper person. There is a persecution (against him)," the US cyclist was quoted as saying in the interview published Saturday.

Ferrari, who has worked with Armstrong for some years, is being tried in a Bologna court.

The doctor repeatedly has denied any wrongdoing and told the court this week that he prescribed only legal medicine to cyclists.