USA governing body backs Armstrong against WADA

NEW YORK (AFP) –

USA Cycling sided against the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in its fight against seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, pictured in 2011, in a letter written to a US federal judge about their dispute.

USA Cycling sided against the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in its fight against seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong in a letter written to a US federal judge about their dispute.

The US sport governing body said it must back the International Cycling Union (UCI) claim that it has jurisdiction in the case and not USADA, which claims jurisdiction based on its mandate from the World Anti-Doping Agency.

USADA has charged Armstrong with taking performance-enhancing drugs as part of a doping conspiracy.

Armstrong challenged USADA in federal court in his hometown of Austin, Texas, saying that USADA’s arbitration hearing policy denies him a US Constitutional right to a fair trial.

In a letter to US District Judge Sam Sparks, Armstrong’s attorneys attached a letter from USA Cycling lawyer Stephen Hess that says USA Cycling supports UCI having “power to express its interpretation of WADA’s anti-doping code.”