Cycling: UCI backs independent audit on 'Armstrong years'

Lance Armstrong was stripped of his 7 Tour De France titles last year.

World cycling’s governing body has backed a proposal to carry out an independent audit of its role in the Lance Armstrong doping scandal that rocked the sport.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) said in a statement on Thursday evening that its management committee approved the idea continued talks on their handling of the Texan rider with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) at a meeting in Bergen, Norway.

UCI president Pat McQuaid indicated the likelihood of such a move in an interview with AFP in May and that WADA, who had previously criticised the disbanding of an independent commission to look into the matter, were also in favour.

WADA and the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), whose devastating report last year exposed Armstrong as a serial drug cheat, refused to work with the commission.

Armstrong was stripped of his record seven Tour de France wins and banned from cycling for life but questions linger about how he was able to evade detection for so long — and whether the UCI was complicit in a cover-up.