The French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) is offering to re-test Lance Armstrong's samples from the 1999 Tour de France so that he can prove once and for all that doping allegations published by French sports daily L'Equipe in August, 2005 are false.  AFLD president Pierre Bordry is volunteering to serve as an arbitrator between L'Equipe and Armstrong.  According to Bordry, Jacques de Ceaurriz, the director of the French national anti-doping lab (Laboratoire National de dépistage du dopage (LNDD)), which AFLD oversees, has reassured him that enough of the samples remain for re-testing purposes.  Bordry, who referred to Armstrong as "a great champion," is offering to have the samples re-tested at any WADA-accredited laboratory in Europe.  (source: L'Equipe)

Note:  The L'Equipe article was written by Damien Ressiot (L'Equipe's doping reporter behind the 2005 allegations) who referred to Don Catlin, the world-renowned anti-doping expert who will be closely monitoring Armstrong during his comeback, as "very controversial".  Ressiot failed to similarly qualify the LNDD, truly the world's most controversial anti-doping laboratory which has come under fire even within France.

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