WADA director general Howman says US investigation of cycling likely slow work

WADA official: US cycling probe ‘could take years’

GENEVA — World Anti-Doping Agency director general David Howman believes a U.S. investigation into cheating in professional cycling could take years to complete.

Howman told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Monday that evidence gathering in such a case is a slow process that can lead in unexpected directions.

Howman says the long-running BALCO investigation is a good example. Like the cycling probe, it was led by federal agent Jeff Novitzky.

Howman says prosecutors haven’t contacted WADA directly but it has been helping indirectly through Interpol and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.