Lance Armstrong, who is planning a comeback to racing in January, has given short shrift to suggestions that he should agree to another test of six urine samples from the first of his seven Tour de France victories, in 1999, to determine whether they contain traces of erythropoietin (EPO), the illegal blood booster.

The proposition came from Pierre Bordry, the director of the French anti-doping agency, AFLD. “His proposal is based on a fundamental failure to understand the facts,” Armstrong said in a statement. “In 2005, some research was conducted on urine samples left over from the 1998 and 1999 Tours de France.

“That research was the subject of an independent investigation and the conclusions of the investigation were that the samples have not been maintained properly, have been compromised in many ways and even three years ago could not be tested to provide any meaningful results. There is simply nothing that I can agree to that would provide any relevant evidence about 1999.”

A spokesman for the American, who has always denied any wrongdoing, said: “He is not interested in discussing again results from samples taken in 1999.” In 2006, an independent report commissioned by the International Cycling Union cleared Armstrong of doping and accused anti-doping authorities of misconduct. The 1999 samples remain in storage in Paris.

Riccardo Riccò has been banned for two years after testing positive for CERA, an advanced version of EPO, during this summer's Tour. The Italian admitted taking the banned substance.