Jacques de Ceaurriz, LNDD director, dies at 60

Jacques de Ceaurriz, director of analysis at the French Laboratoire national de dépistage du dopage de Châtenay-Malabry (LNDD), died Tuesday at age 60, the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) announced today. De Ceaurriz's cause of death was not disclosed.

A researcher in pharmacology, de Ceaurriz worked in various laboratories before becoming a university professor in 1992. De Ceaurriz started working on doping issues in sport in 1997.

While head of the LNDD, de Ceaurriz co-developed with Dr. Françoise Lasne in 2000 a urine test to detect the presence of Erythropoetin (EPO).

In 2005 L'Equipe used data from the LNDD's retrospective testing of 1999 Tour de France urine samples to allege that Lance Armstrong used EPO during the 1999 Tour. De Ceaurriz maintained that the results of the retrospective tests were unequivocal but stated that since there was no possibility of a counter-evaluation that a cyclist could not be sanctioned on the basis of the lab's findings.

The LNDD performed the testing of urine samples from Floyd Landis during the 2006 Tour de France which led to the American being stripped of his 2006 Tour championship. Despite accusations by Landis of violations of testing protocol at the LNDD, Landis lost his appeal to overturn his doping violation.