Verbruggen says Armstrong “never, never, never” doped

Lance Armstrong “never, never, never” used any doping product or method, according to former UCI president Hein Verbruggen. And there was never any cover-up of a positive doping test for the seven-time Tour de France winner, he said.

Interviewed on ad.nl, in response to Tyler Hamilton's claims that he saw Armstrong doping and implicating the UCI in a cover-up, Verbruggen reacted angrily.

"That's impossible, because there is nothing. I repeat again: Lance Armstrong has never used doping. Never, never, never. And I say this not because I am a friend of his, because that is not true. I say it because I'm sure. Even if we would like, it would not be possible to bury a positive test. Test results are not only to the UCI, but also to the WADA.

"So once and for all: under my chairmanship have such practices never occurred at the UCI."

He added, “Hamilton says about the same as Landis, without naming names of people to blame. Well, Landis has a trial on his hands. He must prove his words in court.”

In an interview with Sporza, he was more specific. “There was never a cover up of an Armstrong doping control. Not at the Tour de France and not at the Tour de Suisse. And I do not know of any suspicious tests whatsoever."

He further denied Hamilton's claim of a meeting of the UCI, WADA and Armstrong at the Lausanne, Switzerland, lab in 2001 to discuss the alleged doping control. "I do not know of such a meeting."

The Dutchman is an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee.