LE CREUSOT, France (AP) _ The outgoing head of the Tour de France said he regretted that Lance Armstrong didn't explain how a French lab found traces of a banned performance enhancer in a 1999 sample.
Jean-Marie Leblanc, who is retiring this year after 18 years as head of cycling's premiere race, said the seven-time champion brought a new culture and ``modernity'' to the race that was both good and bad.
Leblanc, in an interview Saturday, criticized news reports highlighting his differences with Armstrong, saying they communicate regularly, ``which shows that we're not that angry at each other.''
The two men took a step closer to reconciliation by meeting for several minutes Saturday on the Discovery Channel team bus.
``It was a good meeting,'' Armstrong said, according to team spokesman P.J. Rabice. Such a meeting seemed improbable as recently as Tuesday, when Armstrong criticized the Tour director.
``The problems and the tension there are so deep,'' Armstrong had said. ``I'm just not very optimistic.''
The International Cycling Union (UCI) in October ordered a probe into the handling of urine samples from the 1999 Tour by an anti-doping lab in the French town of Chatenay-Malabry. The UCI's report in May cleared Armstrong of any doping infractions.
French sports daily L'Equipe reported in August that six of Armstrong's samples tested positive for EPO, which increases red blood cell levels and boosts oxygen capacity. In 1999, there was no reliable test for EPO, but urine samples were preserved and analyzed later when improved testing technology was developed.
``I only have one thing to reproach him for, which is when the Chatenay-Malabry lab said it had found EPO in Armstrong (in a sample) dating from 1999, he didn't try to explain himself,'' Leblanc said.
``But I am talking about 1999. In 2000 and the later years, nobody showed me anything so I fully respect his wins,'' he said. Armstrong won the Tour from 1999 to 2005.
After the article was published, Leblanc said Armstrong had ``fooled'' the cycling world.
Leblanc played down any differences on Saturday.
``The relationship is especially uneasy between Armstrong and France,'' Leblanc said, adding that the American had told him after the article came out that he felt there was a ``plot'' against him.
Leblanc also had kind words for Armstrong, saying he helped moved the race into a new era by showing teams the way to train, eat, equip themselves and drive for victory.
``Armstrong brought a lot to the sport of cycling,'' he said.
Leblanc's career as chief was marked at the beginning and end by two American success stories. He took up the job in 1989, when Greg Lemond won the second of three Tour victories. This year Floyd Landis rallied with a third-place finish in Saturday's time trial to reclaim the overall lead and looked set to win the race Sunday.
Don't expect Leblanc around much next year _ other than at the start in London, because he was invited by Mayor Ken Livingston.
``I'm not going to follow it, other than on television,'' Leblanc said. ``I'll perhaps watch a stage on the side of the road, I don't know where yet. maybe in the mountains.
``Sitting with my cooler, in my shorts, with my grandchildren to watch the Tour de France without any responsibility, with no pressure,'' he said, ``with my family, like a regular fan.''
