McQuaid denies telling team member not to cooperate

FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - International Cycling Union (UCI) president Pat McQuaid denied on Thursday an allegation that he told an employee of a professional team not to cooperate with an investigation into disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong. "Never did anything like that," McQuaid told Reuters in a text message. Garmin Sharp manager Jonathan Vaughters told Reuters that McQuaid, who stands for re-election on Friday in Florence, asked an unidentified employee to ignore the team's instructions to cooperate with a U.S. federal investigation in May 2010. McQuaid, who has had to deal with the fall-out from the Armstrong doping scandal, was first elected in 2005 and is facing a stern challenge from Britain's Brian Cookson in his bid to secure a third four-year term. The election will be held from 0700GMT on Friday (Reporting by Julien Pretot; editing by Martyn Herman)