McQuaid critical of AFLD

Pat McQuaid, president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), weighed in on the conduct of the Agence Française de Lutte contre le Dopage (AFLD), the French anti-doping agency, regarding its March 17 out-of-competition doping test of Lance Armstrong where, the AFLD claims, he disobeyed procedures.

"The French authorities decided to make up a report on the testing procedure, forward it to the UCI, knowing the UCI has no jurisdiction on the case, and at the same time that report has leaked to the press," said McQuaid as reported by BikeRadar on Friday.

"I would have to question why that is the case.

"Normal proceedings between institutions such as national anti-doping agencies, the international federation and the World anti-doping agency (WADA) are normally done in a professional and confidential way until a decision or sanction has been taken," he continued. "In this case it was leaked to the press and I do find that disturbing."

Lance Armstrong reiterated in a video on Friday what he stated in a previously released statement, that the tester had an opportunity in the paperwork to state if there were any irregularities in the testing procedure and the tester indicated "no".

Armstrong said on video, "I suspect this will escalate, and we'll see even more antics out of the AFLD in the near future. There's a very high likelihood that they will prohibit me from riding the Tour (de France)."