Oct 6, 2009, 13:10 GMT
Hamburg - The ruling cycling body UCI has threatened to sever its ties with the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) as partner for races in France over allegations that Lance Armstrong's Astana team received preferential treatment at the Tour de France.
The UCI said in a statement issued late Monday that it considers the accusations made by the AFLD against officials sent to the Tour de France to be completely unfounded and indeed very serious.
Attacking AFLD boss Pierre Bordry, the UCI said Bordry's action 'seems to have had the objective of sabotaging the efforts of the UCI and its partners in recent years with regard to the fight against doping.'
He adedd: 'Consequently, the UCI will now study the options for collaborating with a neutral partner for anti-doping controls on French soil. Such an option has already been implemented by other international federations.'
Citing a 10-page AFLD report, French papers on Monday said that the Astana team of record champion Lance Armstrong and eventual 2009 winner Alberto Contador had been given preferential treatment during this year's Tour.
The reports said Astana riders were given 'the latest morning doping tests' and did not respect the requirement to present themselves immediately to AFLD testers on at least one occasion.
In addition, blood tests of Astana riders scheduled for July 25 were not carried out because the UCI inspectors underestimated the time it took the riders to reach their hotel, the report says.
The report further noted that to help carry out tests in the run- up to the Tour de France, the UCI provided information to the AFLD about the whereabouts of all the teams, except for Astana.
Relations between the UCI and AFLD have been strained for a long time. The UCI was not welcome to conduct the anti-doping programme at the 2008 Tour, but resumed control this year.
The UCI said it had acted on AFLD concerns over Astana and that its investigation 'showed that the Astana team had not been favoured in any way.'
The AFLD will stage on news conference on Wednesday about its latest activities, including the results of retests carried out from further rests of 2008 Tour samples.
Retest results from this year's Tour are expected by the end of the month.
Last month, the UCI did nor renew the top flight ProTour licence for two French teams, Cofidis and Bbox Bouygues Telecom, two teams that had raced in the ProTour since its inauguration in 2005.
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