UCI Deny Claims they Helped Cover Up Armstrong Doping Scandal

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has refuted claims they helped cover up Lance Armstrong’s doping.

United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) chief executive Travis Tygart said that Armstrong has evidence suggesting that the UCI covered up his doping.

A spokesperson for the UCI said: “The fact is that Mr Tygart has no evidence of any wrongdoing and has chosen to make headlines on a convenient interpretation of a conversation he had with Lance Armstrong.

“He should establish the facts before jumping to conclusions. The UCI welcomes any assistance and clarification that Lance Armstrong may wish to give Mr Tygart on the matter.”

The UCI disbanded an independent commission it established to investigate the contents of the USADA report which helped expose Armstrong.

Tygart hoped the UCI would carry on investigating older claims of a cover-up and failings regarding Armstrong

The UCI spokesperson added: “It’s all very well Mr Tygart talking about co-operation, but let’s not forget that the independent commission was only disbanded because of Usada’s and Wada’s point-blank refusal to co-operate with it.

“Simply, the UCI was left with no choice but to close it down; it made no sense to go forward without the participation of these two bodies.

“One can only assume that their refusal to co-operate with the independent commission was due to their fear that their own shortcomings would be exposed.

“After all, Usada and Wada also tested Armstrong over many years and also failed to catch him. It was only with the benefit of the US federal investigation that Usada was finally able to gain evidence of Armstrong’s doping.

“No attempt by Travis Tygart to rewrite history will change the fact that Usada failed to catch Lance Armstrong having tested him just 49 times during his career. The UCI by comparison tested Armstrong 189 times.

“As Mr Tygart himself admitted Thursday in other media reports, it was the UCI in its campaign against doping, not Wada or Usada, which caught Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton.

“And it was the UCI catching these two high-profile riders which ended up with them confessing and so enabled the investigation to move against Armstrong.”

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