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Report: Armstrong and Tygart met to discuss reduced sanction

By Cycling News

published 18 March 2015

Neither Tygart nor Armstrong will confirm NY Times report

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Lance Armstrong was given a special exception to the rules so he could race the 2009 Tour Down Under

USADA chief Travis Tygart (R) shakes hands with Senator Arlen Specter at a 2009 hearing in Washington, DC about screening dietary supplements for illegal steroids.(Image credit: AFP)

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)(Image credit: USADA)

Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf alledges that George Hincapie, David Zabriskie, Levi Leipheimer and Christian Vande Velde (clockwise from upper left), all competing in the Tour de France, have testified in the USADA investigation of Lance Armstrong.(Image credit: AFP)

Lance Armstrong liked to control the media(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Lance Armstrong on the attack with Thierry Bourguignon at Paris-Nice in 1995.

Lance Armstrong menaced by a specter of his past doping(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Lance Armstrong met recently with US Anti-doping Agency head Travis Tygart to discuss the possibility of reducing his lifetime ban.

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The newspaper reported that Armstrong and Tygart met for the first time in more than two years last week near Denver International Airport. Tygart would not confirm the meeting, and Armstrong's lawyer was not available for comment when the Times attempted to contact him. But the newspaper reported that Armstrong has confided with "close friends" that the meeting took place.

Former Armstrong teammate Scott Mercier, who is friends with both Armstrong and Tygart, arranged the meeting, according to the report.

Although he would not confirm that such a meeting took place, Tygart did tell the Times that USADA's position had not changed.

"From the very beginning, our hope has always been that he would come in, sit down and have a full discussion," Tygart told the newspaper, but he added that it was premature to talk about any kind of reduced sanction.

Tygart also told the newspaper that "the ultimate objective now is to get in a beneficial spot — for both anti-doping and for Lance himself."