UCI President McQuaid Accused Of Mishandling Armstrong Doping Tests

Int'l Cycling Union (UCI) President Pat McQuaid "has been accused of deceit and being derelict in his handling of the blood test results from Lance Armstrong during his comeback years by leading Australian blood doping scientist Michael Ashenden," according to Rupert Guinness of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Ashenden said in a statement he released late on Wednesday McQuaid "has deceitful and deliberately misled the public and media'' about Armstrong's suspicious blood values when he raced in '09 and '10. The UCI announced on Tuesday the ''Athlete Blood Passport software'' found no abnormalities in Armstrong's samples ''at any time during his comeback years." The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, in its ''reasoned decision'' for banning and stripping him of his Tour titles from 1999 to 2005 when he first retired for doping, said that "his samples taken after his comeback indicated blood manipulation." Ashenden said, ''The UCI have been forced to admit that they never sent Armstrong's suspicious blood values to their expert panel for scrutiny" (SMH, 2/14).