An independent anti-doping commission as requested by CPA
In the wake of Lance Armstrong case, the professional riders’ association CPA has urged to form an independent anti-doping body in the sport.
It has also been stated that the Cycling Governing body UCI has lost its credibility after it failed to track Lance Armstrong’s drug cartel which went un-noticed for years and years.
“The Armstrong affair is devastating not only because of the involvement of one of cycling’s biggest champions but also because of the loss of credibility and authority of the institutions who govern this sport,” CPA President, Gianni Bugno cited.
“The riders cannot tolerate that there are doubts surrounding the correct application of sporting justice".
“It’s the duty of the heads of a sport to guarantee that the system is equal for all and the UCI, after the facts that have emerged from the Armstrong case, can no longer act as guarantor of the application of sporting justice,” he concluded.
Lance Armstrong has recently been accused of using systematic under his former American side, Team USPS along with several other cyclists.
CPA is not the first to raise such concerns, as several other officials including former and current cyclists have raised suspicions on UCI’s credibility since the USADA’s reasoned decision on the discredited American.
Armstrong was checked for doping on several occasions, but he somehow managed to bypass the system every single time and he went on doing it for at least 12 consecutive years, 1998 to 2010.
The USADA’s report includes the names of as many as 26 cyclists who confessed doping, including 11 of Lance’s former teammates.
These teammates of Lance Armstrong are, are Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Tyler Hamilton, George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Stephen Swart, Christian Vande Velde, Jonathan Vaughters and David Zabriskie.
During the CPA’s annual general meeting, Bugno noted that he will have a meeting with UCI President Pat McQuaid to further discuss the issue and will forward a suggestion that at least one member of such independent-doping commission is nominated by CPA.
CPA also forward a suggestion to regulate the Continental cycling teams by increasing the salaries, proper contracts for the cyclists along with insurance and doping control which will eventually help in establishing a stronger doping-free cycling environment.
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