Saugy said to have reported Armstrong samples to FDA

Swiss anti-doping laboratory director Martial Saugy told US authorities last fall that Lance Armstrong's doping controls from the 2001 Tour de Suisse were “suspicious” and “consistent with EPO use,” the Associated Press has reported.

This contradicts earlier statements from Saugy, in 2001 the lab's scientific director, who had previously said publicly that he did not know who the four “suspicious” doping samples were from.

Last week he confirmed to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung that there were four “suspicious” samples, but that they were anonymous. The subject first came to light when Tyler Hamilton discussed it on the “60 Minutes” television programme.

His claims that he did not know the name of the person or persons who submitted the doping controls in question “was contrary to what he said in his statement made to officials from the FBI, the Food and Drug Administration and anti-doping authorities, the person familiar with the investigation told the AP. Though Saugy was not under oath, there are potential legal ramifications for lying to authorities working on a federal probe.”

The AP said that it could not reach Saugy for comment on the story.

Saugy told US authorities on three different occasions about the Armstrong tests and said that he would turn over the results to anti-doping officials, the AP reported. “But he never produced them, which prompted the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to send him a letter in April asking for the evidence. “60 Minutes” later obtained a copy of this letter.