Martial Saugy, head of the Swiss Laboratory for Doping Analyses (LAD) of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, CHUV, speaks during a press conference after accusations by U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart, in Lausanne, Friday.(Photo: Laurent Gillieron AP)
LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The head of Switzerland's anti-doping
laboratory described as "nonsense" on Friday claims by U.S. Anti-Doping
Agency CEO Travis Tygart that he helped Lance Armstrong avoid being
caught for doping.
Lab director Martial Saugy called a news
conference to answer accusations by Tygart that he provided Armstrong
with information on how to avoid detection for use of the blood-boosting
drug EPO.
Tygart told the U.S. television program "60 Minutes
Sports" on Wednesday that Saugy acknowledged to him that he gave
Armstrong and his team manager, Johan Bruyneel, "the keys to beating EPO
tests" before the 2002 Tour de France.
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"The answer is clear: It's
'No'," Saugy said Friday, adding he was "surprised" by the claim. "I
would like to ask him (Tygart), really personally, why did he say that,
because personally it was not the case."
Saugy suggested that
Tygart had "deficiencies" in his recollection of their discussion in
Moscow in 2010 soon after U.S. federal investigators opened a probe into
Armstrong and doping in cycling.
"I don't really understand the
interpretation on that part of the discussion," Saugy later told The
Associated Press in an interview. "For me, it is a nonsense."
In the TV program, Tygart said he asked Saugy: "Did you give Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel the keys to beating EPO tests?"
"And
he nodded to say 'yes,'" Tygart said. "He explained to them, just the
two of them. As far as I know, it's unprecedented. It's completely wrong
to meet an athlete with a suspect result and explain to him how the
test works."
Saugy acknowledged his respect for Tygart, with whom
he worked with on a previous case involving Armstrong's former teammate
Tyler Hamilton. Tygart's determination to build a case against Armstrong
for using EPO and other performance-enhancing drugs was crucial after
the federal case was dropped early last year.
Armstrong was
stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from the sport
for life after USADA released a report last year detailing widespread
doping by the American rider and his teams.
"Travis Tygart is a
key person in the fight against doping," Saugy said, before adding, "He
knows the rules. He knows we must be transparent in order to respect the
right of the defense. We need also to respect all the other athletes."
Saugy
said he followed the International Cycling Union's request to meet with
Armstrong in Luxembourg before the 2002 Tour started.
The Swiss
official denied suggestions he had made an error or was naive in meeting
the rider to discuss anti-doping strategy - a decision now criticized
by Tygart and World Anti-Doping Agency officials as a clear conflict of
interest.
"I have absolutely no regret. I would repeat it," Saugy
told The AP, explaining that Armstrong and other riders at that time had
a right to information about false positive results in the relatively
new EPO test. "They wanted to know what is the basis of the fight
against doping."
Armstrong will give his first television
interview since the sanctions were imposed when he speaks with Oprah
Winfrey next Thursday.
Associated Press