PARIS – Pierre Bordry, the controversial head of the French anti-doping agency announced his resignation on Friday with cycling legend Lance Armstrong, with whom he regularly clashed, greeting the news with a brief “Au revoir Pierre”.

“Normally my term finishes in July but I will quit the agency as soon as my successor is named,” said the 70-year-old, who had been in charge of the AFLD for five years.

“There are a certain number of decisions that must be taken for the future of the agency” that he preferred to leave to his successor, he added.

Bordry’s AFLD was in charge of testing at the 2008 Tour de France which revealed several positive tests in the peloton.

The substance detected was CERA, the new third-generation EPO.

One year later, the AFLD accused the UCI of favoritism towards the Astana team of Alberto Contador and Armstrong.

Bordry, who also regularly clashed with the International Cycling Union (UCI) over testing, said earlier this month that he was ready to co-operate with a US federal investigation into seven-time Tour de France champion Armstrong.

Former US Postal teammate Floyd Landis has claimed that he, Armstrong and other riders at the team — which existed from 1997-2004 — were involved in systematic doping practices.

Armstrong has vehemently denied the allegations, and has questioned the credibility of Landis, a man who denied for four years that he doped despite testing positive and losing his Tour de France title after winning the 2006 race.

Landis’s claims have however led to the launching of a federal investigation which is being led by US Food and Drug Administration special agent Jeff Novitzky, who was in charge of the BALCO investigation into the use and distribution of designer steroids and which led to a jail term for former sprint queen Marion Jones after she was found guilty of perjury.

Just minutes after hearing of Bordry’s resignation, Armstrong wrote on his Twitter site: “Au revoir Pierre”.