Panel to investigate Armstrong and ICU
Governing body seeks to ‘put cycling back on track.’
GENEVA — An independent panel will examine possible links between cycling’s governing body and the Lance Armstrong doping case.
The three-member panel will meet in London from April 9-26, with a June 1 deadline to deliver its report.
The group consists of retired British judge Philip Otton, Australian lawyer Malcolm Holmes and former Paralympics star Tanni GreyThompson.
John Coates, president of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, was key in establishing the panel. The International Cycling Union had no say as to who would serve.
“The appointment of these three eminent figures demonstrates clearly that the UCI wants to get to the bottom of the Lance Armstrong affair and put cycling back on the right track,” UCI President Pat McQuaid said in a statement Friday.
“We will listen to and act on the commission’s recommendations.”
Otton’s sports legal cases include a Premier League relegation dispute involving Carlos Tevez, and Chelsea’s tactics in trying to lure Ashley Cole from Arsenal.
Grey-Thompson, a 10- time Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair racing, is now a lawmaker in the upper chamber of Britain’s Parliament.
The cycling body said the three will have access to “all relevant documents in the control or possession of the UCI,” including bank and telephone records and laboratory test results.
The announcement came two days before a group of the UCI’s and Armstrong’s fiercest critics, including threetime Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, meets in London to press for changes in how cycling is run.
The UCI asked Coates last month to help create a panel to investigate suspicions raised by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s damning report into widespread doping by Armstrong’s teams during his record seven Tour de France victories from 1999-2005. Armstrong was stripped of seven Tour de France titles and banned for life.
The panel’s work could be key in determining whether the governing body can rebuild its damaged credibility.
The commission will scrutinize McQuaid, who was elected as UCI president weeks after Armstrong first retired in 2005, and his predecessor, Hein Verbruggen, in their relations with Armstrong.
The governing body denies claims made by former Armstrong teammates to USADA that it covered up suspicious samples from Armstrong in exchange for payments totaling $125,000, or that the American rider enjoyed special protection.