IOC urged to validate EPO test

Lance Armstong has repeatedly denied using EPO

French officials and a delegation from the International Cycling Federation have urged Olympic organisers to say when they will approve a French-developed anti-doping test.

The test, which screens urine for the banned performance-enhancing hormone EPO, has yet to receive approval from the IOC.

The French sports minister has accused the Olympic committee of dragging its feet in validating the test.

Following a meeting on Monday, a ministry statement said they hoped the process and timetable for clearing the test would be "rapidly and clearly defined".

Frozen samples

However, sports ministry spokeswoman Feriel Saadi Barrere said officials did not discuss the issue of frozen urine samples which are part of an investigation into the US Postal Service team of cycling champion Lance Armstrong.

Saadi Barrere said the US Postal inquiry was a matter for the judiciary.

Urine samples taken from riders in July's Tour de France were frozen in anticipation of the International Olympic Committee's approval of the test, which was developed by a French laboratory.

On Saturday, French Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet said that judicial authorities had seized some of the samples as part of an investigation into Armstrong's team.

Armstrong, who came back from testicular cancer to win the 1999 and 2000 Tours, has repeatedly denied taking performance enhancing drugs.

EPO, or erythropoietin, enhances endurance by boosting the production of oygen-rich red blood cells.

The substance was at the heart of the drug scandal at the 1998 Tour de France.

At the Paris meeting, participants discussed harmonizing French anti-doping legislation and the rules of the ICU and the French Cycling Federation, the statement said.

Neither Buffet nor ICU President Hein Verbruggen attended the talks, but the president of the French Cycling Federation, Daniel Baal, was present.