French anti-doping lab suspended by WADA

PARIS (Reuters) - The French anti-doping laboratory of Chatenay-Malabry, where disgraced American cyclist Lance Armstrong's samples had been tested, has been provisionally suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Tuesday.

(Reuters)

"This provisional suspension was imposed due to analytical issues self-reported to WADA by the laboratory," the agency said in a statement, without elaborating on the reasons why.

"The provisional suspension, which took effect on 24 September 2017, prohibits the Paris Laboratory from carrying out any anti-doping activities, including all analyses of urine and blood samples.

"The provisional suspension will remain in place pending disciplinary proceedings being carried out by an independent Disciplinary Committee."

The Chatenay-Malabry laboratory is where the urine test for the banned blood-booster EPO (erythropoietin) was developed in 1999.

In 2005, French sports newspaper L'Equipe, saying it had access to laboratory documents, reported that six of Armstrong's urine samples collected on the 1999 Tour de France showed "indisputable" traces of EPO.

Armstrong repeatedly denied the allegations before admitting to doping in a television interview in 2013.

(This version of the story corrects paragraph 2 after WADA made clear issues were 'self-reported' by laboratory)

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Christian Radnedge)