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While I'm fairly certain that Armstrong didn't take any performance enhancers, I do know for a fact that he was using technological advantages, albeit legal ones. He was the first major cyclist to adopt the African training model and the first one to create an artificial environment for high-altitude training, which allowed him to recover at a much lower altitude than he was training. He used hypo- and hyperbaric chambers to simulate 12,000 feet while training and sea level when resting, which allowed him to recover much faster from harder workouts. They're also portable.
The African training model is less important in the greater scheme of things but basically dictates how he rides his miles - pace, distance, terrain, etc.
Endurance sports are all about who can transport oxygen to the long muscles the most efficiently. All of the doping products artificially enhance that ability. Armstrong tricked his body into doing it by artificial means.
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