Latest update December 20th, 2024 4:27 AM
Latest News
- EPA shamefully omitted sections Exxon Permit to argue against unlimited parent company guarantee for oil spills- Dr. Adams
- Hicken appointed top cop
- Israeli attacks pummel Gaza’s north as UN denounces lack of aid access
- Brutus refutes claims of attempting to leave Guyana
- Man gets life imprisonment sentence for felonious wounding
“Sickened” UCI strips Armstrong of Tour wins
(Reuters) – Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life on Monday after the International Cycling Union (UCI) ratified the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) sanctions against the American.
The long-awaited decision has left cycling facing its “greatest crisis” according to UCI president Pat McQuaid and has destroyed Armstrong’s last hope of clearing his name.
“Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling. Lance Armstrong deserves to be forgotten in cycling,” McQuaid told a news conference as he outlined how cycling, long battered by doping problems for decades, would have to start all over again.
“The UCI wishes to begin that journey on that path forward today by confirming that it will not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and that it will recognize the sanction that USADA has imposed. “I was sickened by what I read in the USADA report.”
On October 10, USADA published a report into Armstrong which alleged the now-retired rider had been involved in the “most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen”.
Armstrong, 41, had previously elected not to contest USADA charges, prompting USADA to propose his punishment pending confirmation from cycling’s world governing body.
Former Armstrong team mates at his U.S. Postal and Discovery Channel outfits, where he won his seven successive Tour titles from 1999 to 2005, testified against him and themselves and were given reduced bans by the American authorities.
“It wasn’t until the intervention of federal agents…they called these riders in and they put down a gun and badge on the table in front of them and said ‘you’re now facing a grand jury you must tell the truth’ that those riders broke down,” McQuaid added.
WIDESPREAD DOPING
McQuaid, who faced criticism from several quarters for his and the UCI’s handling of the affair, said he would not be resigning. “Cycling has a future. This is not the first time cycling has reached a crossroads or that it has had to begin anew,” he said in front of a packed room full of journalists and television cameras.
“When I took over (as president) in 2005 I made the fight against doping my priority. I acknowledged cycling had a culture of doping. Cycling has come a long way. I have no intention of resigning as president of the UCI. “I am sorry we couldn’t catch every damn one of them red handed and throw them out of the sport.”
Other issues such as the potential re-awarding of Armstrong’s Tour titles and the matter of prize money will be discussed by the UCI Management Committee on Friday.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme has said he believes no rider should inherit the titles given doping was so widespread among the peloton at the time but McQuaid made it clear the decision rested with his organization, not the Tour.
USADA charged five people over the doping ring. Doctors Luis Garcia del Moral and Michele Ferrari and trainer Pepe Marti have been banned for life, while Armstrong’s mentor Johan Bruyneel has chosen to go to arbitration along with doctor Pedro Celaya.
The UCI also said it had dope tested Armstrong 218 times and the fact he never tested positive and “beat the system” means that other organizations such as the World Anti-Doping Agency should share the responsibility of accepting the results.
In recent years the Tour de France and cycling had looked to be winning the battle against dopers but when asked if the sport would one day be free of the scourge, McQuaid answered: “No.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it would take its time to digest the news amid suggestions that Armstrong could be stripped of his 2000 Sydney Olympics time trial bronze.
“We will study UCI’s response to the USADA report and await to receive their full decision including further potential sanctions against Lance Armstrong as well as regarding any ramifications to his case,” an IOC official said.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
A question of timing and priorities
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The advent of significant oil discoveries has catapulted Guyana into the global spotlight.... more
Let the asylum seekers go: a first step for Venezuela to rebuild relations in the Americas
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – The government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela has steadfast support from many... more
Weekend Cartoon
