If nothing else, this news should make Lance Armstrong happy. Dick Pound, the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, has been sued by cycling’s international governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale, for alleged derogatory comments by Pound.

This would be welcome news to Armstrong because after a French newspaper wrote that Armstrong’s old doping-control samples from the Tour de France allegedly contained traces of EPO, Pound famously said: “Now an onus is on Lance Armstrong and the others to explain how it is EPO got into their systems.” Armstrong responded by calling for Pound’s dismissal from WADA.

Pound, a former VP of the International Olympic Committee and a one-time candidate for commissioner of the National Hockey league (he lost to Gary Bettman), also once said that a third of NHL players were doping, which earned him rebuke from Bettman and the NHL

Interestingly, though outspoken about drug use in sports and athletes suspected of doping, Pound is a candidate to become president of CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sports — i.e. an athlete’s court of last resort in appealing doping cases. Yes, an outspoken anti-doping crusader, in a system where athletes have to prove their innocence through invasive testing, might head the group that is supposed to be impartial.

Good thing Floyd Landis’ case is being appealed now, considering what Pound said about the thoroughly botched 11-to-1 testosterone-to-epitestosterone finding by the  French lab that prompted the loss of Landis’ 2006 Tour de France title and his suspension but that was subsequently tossed out as unreliable by both the majority and minority opinions in Landis’ first appeal.

Said Pound, according to the New York Times:  “I mean, it was 11 to 1. … You’d think he’d be violating every virgin within 100 miles. How does he even get on his bicycle?”

A better question would be how the French lab received WADA accreditation, considering the slipshod procedures revealed in the Landis case. I’m just sayin’.

In any event, here’s the Associated press story about the UCI suit …

Cycling body sues former WADA president Dick Pound over ’biased comments’ on doping

AIGLE, Switzerland (AP) — Cycling’s governing body sued Dick Pound over critical comments by the former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The International Cycling Union and former president Hein Verbruggen lodged a complaint in a Swiss court regarding Pound’s “continual injurious and biased comments.” The dispute centers on Pound’s criticism of UCI and Verbruggen in combating doping in cycling.

Pound stepped down this year after heading WADA for eight years. He has regularly clashed with Verbruggen and the UCI over the doping scandals that have rocked the sport.

In explaining its action, the UCI said Pound has “publicly questioned the extent of the UCI’s efforts in the fight against doping.”

Pound did not immediately respond Friday to a message left by The Associated Press. The Canadian is currently running for the presidency of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, which has settled a number of high-profile doping cases in cycling.

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