IT WAS the work of Australian Institute of Sport head of physiology Professor Christopher Gore that determined the chances of Lance Armstrong being clean in the 2009 and 2010 Tour de France races.

Professor Gore examined blood samples taken from Armstrong between October 2008 and April this year for the US Anti-Doping Agency - 29 samples taken by the World Anti-Doping Agency and a further nine taken by USADA.

According to the USADA report on Armstrong, a cluster of five Armstrong samples taken during the 2009 Tour and his two samples during the 2010 event contained an unusually low percentage of reticulocytes, or immature red blood cells that are created naturally by the body. When an athlete adds additional red blood cells to his circulation by transfusing his own stored blood, the body's production of reticulocytes is suppressed.

''When Prof Gore compared the suppressed reticulocyte percentage in Armstrong's 2009 and 2010 Tour de France samples to the reticulocyte percentage in his other samples, Prof Gore concluded that the approximate likelihood of Armstrong's seven suppressed reticulocyte values during the 2009 and 2010 Tours de France occurring naturally was less than one in a million," the report said.

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Professor Gore was unavailable for comment yesterday, but AIS director Matt Favier had nothing but praise for his work.

"Professor Gore has worked at the Australian Institute of Sport for more than 20 years and is the head of the department of physiology. Professor Gore earned his PhD in 1989 and has published over 130 papers,'' Favier said. ''He has two professorships and is well positioned as an internationally recognised expert.

"Given his expertise and impeccable credentials, Professor Gore has provided an evidence-based opinion on perturbation in various factors found in the blood of athletes in several anti-doping cases.

"Professor Gore was also a key researcher in work prior to the Sydney Olympic Games that provided the basis for the current process that identifies abnormal levels of markers in an athlete's bloodstream. Moreover, the basic model of the so called 'athlete blood passport' now used by WADA and USADA is built on the foundation of that 1999-2000 research project, which was funded by the IOC.''

Australia has several links to Armstrong. He made his racing comeback in January 2009 at the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, and then last year, he raced professionally for the final time in the same event.

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AIS professor triggered red alert on Armstrong blood cells