Armstrong facing financial hit over doping ban

PARIS (AFP) –

File picture. World cycling’s decision to strip Lance Armstrong of his record seven Tour de France wins could cost the shamed US rider millions, as calls mounted for tougher action to restore the sport’s shattered image.

World cycling’s decision to strip Lance Armstrong of his record seven Tour de France victories could cost the shamed US rider millions, as the sport attempted to win back dismayed fans and sponsors.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) on Monday gave its backing to a damning US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) dossier that placed the Texan at the heart of the biggest doping programme in sport, erasing his record back to August 1, 1998.

But as the 41-year-old’s major triumphs were scrubbed from the history books and officials vowed to up the fight against banned substances, moves began to recoup his prize money, bonuses and other pay-outs.

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme is seeking repayment of nearly 2.95 million euros ($3.8 million) from Armstrong’s successes in cycling’s most gruelling and celebrated race between 1999 and 2005.

Major allegations made against Lance Armstrong by the US Anti-Doping Agency in a report submitted to the International Cycling Union on October 10. World cycling officials said they could make reforms as early as this week in the wake of ratifying a life ban for the global cycling icon.

During that period, Tailwind Sports, the parent company of his US Postal Service team, took out a policy with sports insurance firm SCA Promotions, paying a premium to cover bonuses paid for his Tour victories.

SCA withheld a $5 million bonus due after Armstrong’s sixth Tour win in 2004 because of doping allegations in Europe. The rider took the Dallas, Texas, firm to court and was awarded the cash, plus $2.5 million in legal fees and interest.

The firm’s lawyer, Jeffrey Dorough, told AFP: “Mr Armstrong is no longer the official winner of any Tour de France races and as a result it is inappropriate and improper for him to retain any bonus payments made by SCA.”

The Velonation cycling news website reported that SCA paid out a total of $12 million in bonuses to Armstrong over the years. Dorough said he could only confirm the lower figure but added: “Any sum that was paid by SCA would be in play.”

Elsewhere, Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper has said it is considering legal action against Armstrong to recover money spent defending a defamation case over doping allegations, which was settled in 2004.

The settlement was not disclosed but reports have suggested the case cost the weekly one million pounds ($1.6 million, 1.2 million euros).

Armstrong, who reportedly has an estimated net worth of $125 million, has already taken a financial hit, as high-profile sponsors including sportswear firm Nike have dropped him from marketing campaigns.

Business magazine Forbes said on its website on Monday that Armstrong could lose $15 million a year in endorsements and speaking fees.

On the legal front, he could yet face court action for perjury after swearing under oath that he never doped. The maximum penalty is up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1.5 million.

The Armstrong case has cast a dark cloud over world cycling, with its most recognisable star fallen from grace and the USADA dossier outlining the extent and scope of the use of banned substances in the sport in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Current and former cyclists have said they feel cheated by Armstrong, who battled back from life-threatening cancer to stage what was billed at the time as the greatest comeback in sport.

Five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain, though, said he still believed Armstrong was innocent, even as another of the American’s team-mates, Norwegian Steffen Kjaergaard, admitted taking the banned blood booster erythropotein (EPO).

Britain’s Bradley Wiggins gives a press conference after winning the London 2012 Olympic Games men’s individual time trial road cycling event in London in August. He also became the first Briton to win the Tour de France.

Bradley Wiggins, this year’s Tour de France winner with Team Sky, and 2011 champion Cadel Evans of Australia are among the stars who must try and convince sponsors and supporters of cycling to stay faithful in the face of betrayal.

“We are the ones picking these pieces up,” Wiggins told Sky News. “For me it is about moving forward and not looking back any more to what happened 10, 15 years ago.

“We are one of the most successful sports for catching people. I don’t think that is relevant to what we are doing today. What we are doing today is setting the example for our sport.”

That Armstrong deceived everyone for so long has also hit the credibility of the UCI, the sport’s governing body, who have been accused of, but strongly deny, turning a blind eye to his activities and even accepting donations to cover up positive tests.

The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, John Fahey, said Tuesday that the sport’s administrators had to take responsibility for that time when “everybody doped”, despite UCI president Pat McQuaid’s insistence that only riders were to blame.

Scott Mercier, a former teammate of Armstrong, called for McQuaid to resign for not doing more to uncover the Armstrong doping scandal.

“When Pat McQuaid says that he has no responsibility, it’s quite simply not true,” Mercier told Sky Sports News. “Directors have to be accountable. The UCI has to get rid of Pat McQuaid.

“In any other business, in the same circumstances, the president would resign or be sacked. The sport can’t change, at least at a professional level, as long as he remains in his position.”