MEN AT THE HEART OF IT ALL
THE Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) was chaired by Dr Dick Marty, a Swiss politician and former state prosecutor. He was supported by Professor Ulrich Haas, an expert in anti-doping, and Peter Nicholson, a former military officer who specialises in criminal investigations. At a cost of £2.3million, the three-man panel interviewed 174 people over 13 months. Of those, 41 asked not to be named, with only 16 riders named as having spoken to CIRC. Lance Armstrong met CIRC twice, while Tyler Hamilton, Chris Froome, Nicole Cooke and Michael Rasmussen also agreed to be interviewed. No rider came forward to admit voluntarily an antidoping rule violation. But the panel’s powers were limited as nobody was compelled to give evidence. Others interviewed included Hein Verbruggen, Pat McQuaid, Alexander Vinokourov and Bjarne Riis.