Cycling: Swiss lab refutes USADA claim

LAUSANNE: A Swiss laboratory yesterday denied that it helped Lance Armstrong cheat after claims from the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) that it gave the shamed cyclist information about how to beat drug tests.

“Did I give the keys to get around EPO (erythropoietin) tests?” questioned head of the anti-doping laboratory Martial Saugy, in the Swiss city of Lausanne at a news conference. “The answer is no.”

The head of the USADA, Travis Tygart, claimed in an interview broadcast on Wednesday that Saugy tipped off the Texan rider about a test for the illegal blood booster in 2002. Tygart also said that six of cancer-survivor Armstrong’s samples taken during his first Tour win in 1999 eventually tested positive when they were looked at again in 2005.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2013.