One of the specific claims made by Floyd Landis in the emails leaked last week was that the International Cycling Union (UCI) had conspired to cover up a positive EPO test. The UCI has released an official statement of denial.
Landis claimed that the then two-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong tested positive for EPO after winning the 2001 Tour de Suisse. Armstrong and his director sportif Johan Bruyneel then travelled to Switzerland to meet with Hein Verbruggen, UCI president at the time. In Landis’ words they “flew to the UCI headquarters and made a financial agreement”.
The UCI statement reads:
Floyd Landis’s accusations: clarifications from the UCI
Due to the controversy following the statements made by Floyd Landis, the International Cycling Union wishes to stress that none of the tests revealed the presence of EPO in the samples taken from riders at the 2001 Tour of Switzerland. The UCI has all the documentation to prove this fact.
Between 2001 and 2003, only the Paris, Lausanne, Cologne, Barcelona and Madrid laboratories, commissioned by the UCI, detected the presence of EPO in the samples that had been entrusted to them for analysis. During this period, the first laboratory carried out three positive analyses for EPO, the second 18 and the three last laboratories one each. None of the samples concerned had been taken at the 2001 Tour of Switzerland.
The International Olympic Committee received a copy of all the reports for the positive analyses mentioned above. Furthermore, in 2001, all the analysis reports carried out at the Tour of Switzerland were sent to Swiss Olympic.
Since 1st January 2004, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) receives a copy of any analysis reports which show an abnormal result. WADA has not reported any abnormal analyses from any of its accredited laboratories that have not been duly dealt with by the UCI.
The UCI wishes to reassert the total transparency of its anti-doping testing and categorically rejects any suspicion in relation to the concealment of results from parties involved in this field.