Gendarmes Seek USPS Samples
French police have asked cycling's world governing body for access to blood samples taken from Lance Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service team during last year's Tour de France.
The Swiss-based International Cycling Union, known by its French initials UCI, earlier this week notified U.S. Postal that it had received the request, team general manager Mark Gorski told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
It appeared the request was made as part of the investigation by French authorities into allegations that U.S. Postal riders may have used banned substances during last year's Tour, Gorski said.
U.S. Postal has written to the UCI requesting that the samples be released to the French authorities, Gorski said. "We want to make sure that the French police have access to the information that they need relative to their investigation," he said.
But U.S. Postal has also written to the UCI "expressing the right to have an independent expert to confirm the results of tests if the UCI or the French police were conducting tests on the samples," Gorski said.
Armstrong, from Austin, Texas, came back from testicular cancer to win the 1999 and 2000 Tours. He has repeatedly denied taking illegal substances, and U.S. Postal Service officials have said the team respects anti-doping rules.
The blood samples were taken at the UCI's request from all the cyclists who rode in the 2000 Tour de France.
The samples are tested for the level of hematocrit in the blood. Tests are an indication that the riders may be using the banned endurance-boosting hormone, EPO. But the UCI has yet to approve a test for the drug.
The UCI keeps the samples after the race for research purposes with the riders' consent and on the condition that their identity be kept secret. Only the UCI has the codes allowing the owner of each sample to be identified.
The UCI is willing to hand the French authorities the identification codes for the samples on condition that U.S. Postal give its consent, a spokesman for the cycling body said Thursday.
"If U.S. Postal agrees for its team's blood samples to be given to the French judiciary, the UCI does not oppose it," UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani said.
As part of the investigation, the French judiciary has seized and begun analyzing urine samples taken from the team during the 2000 Tour.
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