Former UCI head Verbruggen dismisses Landis doping claims, says Armstrong never failed test

Former UCI head dismisses Landis doping claims

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The former chief of cycling’s world governing body says that Lance Armstrong never tested positive for a banned drug.

Hein Verbruggen was president of the International Cycling Union in 2002, when Armstrong’s former teammate Floyd Landis claims the seven-time Tour de France winner paid the governing body to cover up a failed doping test.

Verbruggen told The Associated Press on Friday that “never has Lance Armstrong been declared positive by a lab.”

He said Landis had “a lot of confusion” about accusations he aired this week.

Landis admitted extensively doping in his career, after repeatedly denying it since being stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title.

Verbruggen said Landis lied for three years and then changed his story.