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Lance Armstrong’s personal anti-doping program is underway, but the Tour de France legend remains unsure how to handle the test results.
Armstrong has enlisted Don Catlin, the respected American anti-doping scientist, to run the testing.
The seven-time Tour de France champion is proud of the initiative and says the results will be published.
But he is clearly concerned about what should be made public and how it will be interpreted.
Armstrong insists he has always raced clean.
The Catlin program has already tested Armstrong in Adelaide while he returns to professional cycling this week at the Tour Down Under.
On average, Catlin’s program will test Armstrong once every three days, on top of his usual drug tests.
When he announced the comeback last year, Armstrong made a commitment to publish the results.
Armstrong said rival Ivan Basso, who is returning from a doping-related ban, had also announced he would make test results public.
“I would rely a lot on what Don Catlin wants to publish, but we’ll definitely publish data and information,” Armstrong said.
“I mean what do you publish? (Do) you start publishing blood values?”
Armstrong is concerned about making public biological data that was affected by training at altitude or sickness, and then people making accusations from the results.
“For example, and I’m just hypothetically saying, you go to altitude for a month and all of a sudden it (his haemotacrit level) goes to 46,” he said.
“Not everyone in this room is going to say ‘it went from 41 to 46, you must have cheated’ but someone is going to say, a few of you guys and gals are going to say, ‘that’s not normal’.”
Armstrong was speaking at a Tuesday media conference, after he finished stage two of the Tour Down Under in Adelaide.
He opened the conference by praising new American president Barack Obama.
“I can tell you that in my three or four encounters with him, meetings with him, he’s been delightful, he’s been smart, he’s been present and he’s been committed,” Armstrong said.
“For the population in general, and even for the entire world, we see the first-ever African American President of the United States, which is a monumental moment, a monumental achievement.
“He brings a ton of hope and optimism, not just to the US but to everybody all over the world.”
The new president and Armstrong have a connection through cancer – Armstrong has survived the disease and is a world-famous advocate of beating it.
President Obama’s mother and grandmother died from cancer – his grandmother only two days before his election.
Armstrong also met on Tuesday evening with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, after briefly meeting soon after stage one at the Tour.
He praised Rudd for backing Armstrong’s new global anti-cancer initiative, saying the Australian Government would send a senior representative to a global summit later this year.
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