Lance Armstrong plans to have anti-doping program running by January

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Armstrong plans to have program running by January
The Associated Press
Though Armstrong never tested positive during his record-setting career, suspicions were always out there, which was one reason the 37-year-old cyclist asked Catlin to design a testing program that would prove he was clean.

He teamed with Catlin to attach a recognizable name to his drug-testing program. Catlin ran America's first anti-doping lab in UCLA for 25 years and recently left there to set up the nonprofit Anti-Doping Research to develop new ways of catching drug cheats.

Catlin has long been a proponent of performing baseline tests of athletes for a number of illegal substances, then comparing subsequent tests against the original results. It is widely considered a more accurate way of testing than the method most commonly used, but is also more expensive and time-intensive.

UCI has begun performing baseline tests, and under Catlin's program, Armstrong would presumably be tested the same way. Catlin also wants to freeze samples of Armstrong's blood for tests in the future.

None of this, however, has been simple since Armstrong and Catlin agreed to work together in September.

"The program we want to do is going to be intensive," Catlin said. "And he's a moving target. He's very busy. Keeping up with him, testing him, takes a lot of planning and it hasn't all come together yet." ...


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