Lance Armstrong to meet anti-doping agence in a bid to overturn his life ban

Lance Armstrong recently met with a longtime nemesis, the head of the United States 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 new, actionable information on agents, team officials and others guilty of doping offenses who still work in cycling.