International Cycling Union President Replaced on IOC Panel

The fallout from the Lance Armstrong doping scandal continues to spread as the leader of cycling’s governing body (UCI) has been replaced on a key International Olympic Committee (IOC) in order to deal with the controversy.

UCI President, Pat McQuaid, was appointed to the Olympic commission evaluating the bids for the 2020 Olympics in September but has now said he will be too busy to attend the meetings.

He said: “It’s quite simple, I have too much going on and I can’t afford to be spending two weeks away from the office in March.”

Sir Craig Reedie, IOC vice –president, added: “He couldn’t meet the schedule and we had to find someone else. That’s all. There’s nothing sensitive about it in any way.” He has been replaced by Patrick Baumann, secretary general of FIBA and a Swiss IOC member.

The IOC panel will visit the candidate cities for four days in March and compile a detailed report on each ahead of a briefing due to take place in Lausanne, Switzerland in July.

McQuaid and former UCI President Hein Verbruggen have been scrutinised following the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report exposing the systematic doping carried out by Armstrong and his team, which has led to Armstrong being banned for life and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

The report contained allegations from former teammates of Armstrong that he paid $125,000 to the UCI to cover up the results of a positive drugs test from 2001. Armstrong confirmed making a donation to the UCI but denied any cover up and the positive test in an interview last week with Oprah Winfrey.

McQuaid and Verbruggen have said that the interview clears them and the cycling governing body of any wrong-doing, although WADA director general David Howman has said the donation was inappropriate and the matter requires further investigation.

An independent commission has been set up by the UCI to investigate the scandal. McQuaid and Verbruggen are expected to meet with the commission during its hearing in London on 9-26 April.