‘Warnings’ helped Armstrong evade inspectors

Lance Armstrong was “warned before all planned doping controls”, an adviser to the French anti-doping agency AFLD has said.

Michel Rieu, scientific adviser to AFLD, said this was only one of the methods the American used to escape detection of his doping.

“The inspectors encountered many difficulties in making unannounced checks. Armstrong was always informed in advance, so he still had 20 minutes to cover his tracks. He could thin his blood or replace his urine. He used the EPO only in small quantities, so it was no longer there to detect. We were powerless against this way of working,” Rieu told Le Monde.