THE HAGUE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- While the world is awaiting the broadcasting of the interview Lance Armstrong gave to Oprah Winfrey, former UCI president Hein Verbruggen talked to Dutch-Belgian cycling magazine De Muur and exonerated the international cycling union from any blame for the use of doping in the sport.

Last Monday Armstrong reacted for the first time to the allegations of the United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA) of the structural use of doping in the former US Postal/Discovery cycling team, masterminded by Armstrong.

According to reports, the seven-time winner of the Tour de France, who was stripped of all his Tour wins, will admit the use of doping to Oprah Winfrey. The interview will be broadcasted Thursday on Winfrey's network.

The American newspaper reported that Armstrong is planning to testify against officials of the International Cycling Union, who have been involved in doping in cycling. Among others Hein Verbruggen, UCI president from 1991 to 2005, and the current UCI President Pat McQuaid were mentioned.

Verbruggen, who was interviewed before Armstrong, reacted to earlier allegations in cycling magazine De Muur. "If you check someone 215 times and he is always negative, then the problem at first is in the test itself. Well, I'm not responsible for that," he said.

The 71-year-old Verbruggen dismissed much of the criticism.

"The fight against doping is an eternal battle," he said. "I wonder what I personally could have done more."

About collecting a donation of Armstrong worth 100,000 US dollars (75,000 euros) for UCI doping detection equipment, Verbruggen, also honorary member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said, 10 years later: "In retrospect, I would not have accepted that money."

"It is easy to say: 'You knew it', but nobody knew anything for sure," Verbruggen added. "We only had suspicions. We did what we could, but could detect nothing. I don't understand all this fuss. We knew as much as the journalists."

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