THE ARMSTRO NG EFFECT
Procycling’s 2009 Power List featured a very different set of faces but USADA’S Reasoned Decision did a lot to remould cycling’s power structures
To look back at Procycling’s 50-strong Power List from 2009 is to remind oneself of the seismic shift caused by Lance Armstrong’s downfall, as well as the normal evolution of a sport whose brittle hierarchies expose it to frequent change. Armstrong headed that original ranking but currently languishes in the wilderness more than a year on from USADA’s reasoned decision. While his ability to affect the sport’s future remains, it will be hypothetical for as long as he resists both USADA and the UCI’s attempts to involve him in cleaning up the mess that he helped to create. Mark Cavendish said recently that, in his opinion, Armstrong will one day “run the sport”. What would appear to many a doomsday scenario currently seems a long way off. In 2009,
MARK CAVENDISH RECENTLY SAID THAT ARMSTRONG WILL ONE DAY “RUN THE SPORT”
Armstrong’s tentacles reached into every outpost of the sport, from race tactics and equipment design to UCI governance and anti- doping. Nowadays, there’s little he can influence from the golf course.
Several others who had clawed up the ladder on the Texan’s coat-tails are also absent from our 2014 ranking. To varying degrees, that applies to Hein Verbruggen (3rd in 2009), Michele Ferrari (21st), Phil Liggett (35), Paul Sherwen (36), Jim Ochowicz (40) and even, through no fault of their own, to Taylor Phinney (45) and Paul Kimmage ( 50). In Phinney’s case, it must also be said that his performances in his first three seasons as a professional only sporadically lived up to his inflated billing. With Armstrong gone, a diminished American presence is one of the themes of our 2014 classification. Bob Stapleton’s ( 10) Team Highroad world-beaters are no more while the Tour of California is judged to have lost some momentum – in 2009, race chief Andrew Messick placed sixth on our Power List.
Subtler effects of the Armstrong scandal can be detected elsewhere on our list. Angelo Zomegnan, the erstwhile Giro boss, lobbied hard for him to be welcomed at the 2009 Corsa Rosa and it did his standing at RCS no favours when the Texan came, saw and flopped. Zomegnan was eased out two years later. Similarly, Pat McQuaid’s long-standing support for the American was at least partly to blame for him losing his job.
Both McQuaid’s role and Zomegnan’s still appear in our top 25 but are now occupied by different individuals, namely Brian Cookson and Mauro Vegni. Other changes also look like straight swaps; see Francesca Rossi replacing Anne Gripper as the UCI’s doping tsar and Sir Craig Reedie taking John Fahey’s place at WADA.
In the current rider sub- category, out go Armstrong, Boonen ( 17), Andy Schleck (29), David Millar (34), Phinney and Johan Le Bon (44), while Mark Cavendish makes a significant leap from 18th to 4th. Sagan and Cancellara are new entries at 16 and 21 respectively. Le Bon, our tip as the Frenchman most likely to end a Tour de France drought, was a bold selection in 2009 – too bold judging by results since then. If there is a “next Hinault” in the French peloton, it’s probably either Thibaut Pinot, Warren Barguil or Romain Bardet. But from our point of view it’s a case of once bitten, twice shy.