World cycling body to study Armstrong evidence

Cycling's world governing body on Thursday said it would look at a US Anti-Doping Agency report that accused seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong of being at the centre of a widespread doping conspiracy. "The UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) will examine all information received in order to consider issues of appeal and recognition, jurisdiction and statute of limitation, within the term of appeal of 21 days, as required by the World Anti-Doping Code," it said in a short statement on its website, www.uci.ch. "The UCI will endeavour to provide a timely response and not to delay matters any longer than necessary." The USADA on Wednesday claimed that Armstrong's US Postal Service cycling team ran "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen". Armstrong "did not merely use performance-enhancing drugs. He supplied them to his team-mates... He was not just a part of the doping culture on his team. He enforced and re-enforced it." Eleven of the Texan's former team-mates testified against him, forming the basis for the USADA's 202-page "reasoned decision" into why it banned Armstrong for life in August, with more than 1,000 pages of evidence.