Armstrong said to meet nemesis in bid to cut ban

Lance Armstrong recently met with a longtime nemesis, the head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, in an effort to have his lifetime ban from sports overturned, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

Armstrong, the disgraced former cycling champion, and Travis Tygart, the chief executive of USADA, met for the first time in more than two years near Denver International Airport last week. Their conversation was the first step in a potential rapprochement that could lead to the reduction of Armstrong’s lifetime ban for doping.

Tygart, in an interview, would not confirm the meeting had taken place, and Armstrong’s lawyer, Elliot Peters, did not respond to a telephone message left at his San Francisco office. But Armstrong, 43, has confided to close friends that the meeting went well and that he was hopeful of further talks.

Armstrong is eager to reach an agreement that would allow him to compete in top-level triathlons. Significant hurdles remain before that can occur, most notably Armstrong’s continued unwillingness to provide investigators with information on others guilty of doping offenses who still work in cycling.

Until now, Tygart has been the biggest obstacle to any Armstrong comeback.

In 2012 Tygart, as head of USADA, compiled a 202-page dossier that accused Armstrong of running “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”

That led to Armstrong’s being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. He also was barred from any sport that follows the World Anti-Doping Agency code, a punishment that effectively ended Armstrong’s career as an athlete. Armstrong responded by accusing Tygart of “an unconstitutional witch hunt.”

In December 2012, Armstrong and Tygart met, also in Denver, but that discussion ended bitterly, with Armstrong storming out. They had not spoken face to face again until last week. Tygart refused to confirm that the meeting had taken place, but he acknowledged that he was eager for the start of a process that could lead to a role for Armstrong in the fight against doping.