Tour in seven-year void as Armstrong's ex-boss axed

PARIS (AFP) –

Christian Prudhomme (R), seen here talking to Lance Armstrong during the 92nd Tour de France, in 2005. Tour de France director Prudhomme said he was against re-attributing disgraced Armstrong’s seven victories in the world’s most prestigious cycling race.

Tour de France organisers said they were against re-attributing Lance Armstrong’s seven wins as the sport’s doping crisis claimed a new victim — Johan Bruyneel, one of the disgraced American’s closest allies.

Armstrong, who denies taking banned substances, has been accused by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) of being at the heart of “the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme” ever seen in sport.

The organisation announced that Armstrong was guilty of doping violations, raising questions about who would replace him at the top of the Tour podium between 1999 and 2005.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme on Friday said he was against re-allocating Armstrong’s victories, describing the revelations contained in the USADA’s 202-page “reasoned decision” and more than 1,000 pages of supporting testimony as “damning”.

Graphic outlining allegations made against Lance Armstrong in a 1,000 page report by the US Anti-Doping Agency, accusing the seven-time Tour de France winner of taking part in “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”

“What we want is that there is no winner,” he said in his first comments on the report, calling the period a “lost decade” for the sport, which has been trying to clean up its act in recent years.

Prudhomme’s statement comes even though the International Cycling Union (UCI) has not confirmed USADA’s findings but could head off further controversy.

Replacing Armstrong as Tour winner has been a source of debate since August, given that the majority of those who finished second or third — and even lower down the field — have subsequently been implicated in doping scandals.

Finding a rider untouched by links to performance-enhancing drug use would have been a difficult — if not impossible — task.

Meanwhile, UCI president Pat McQuaid said it was still studying the USADA dossier against Armstrong, as pressure grew on it to respond to questions about how he managed to evade detection and whether he paid the body hush money for a positive test.

US Lance Armstrong (R) and his team director Johan Bruyneel, pictured after the ninth stage of the 92nd Tour de France cycling race between Gerardmer and Mulhouse, in 2005. Tour de France organizers admitted that they were against re-attributing Armstrong’s seven wins as the sport’s doping crisis claimed a new victim, Bruyneel, one of the disgraced American’s closest allies.

“The legal department has been told that this is a priority, that we get the job done as quickly as possible and certainly within that time frame we will be back,” he said on the sidelines of the Tour of Beijing.

Elsewhere, Armstrong’s former manager Bruyneel left his current team RadioShack on Friday, amid reports in Belgium that rider Fabian Cancellara was reviewing his future with the outfit because Bruyneel was cited so often in the USADA report.

“From this day on, Johan Bruyneel will no longer act in the position of general manager of cycling team RadioShack Nissan Trek,” a statement said on the team’s website.

“The decision published by the USADA included a number of testimonies as a result of their investigation. In light of these testimonies, both parties feel it is necessary to make this decision since Johan Bruyneel can no longer direct the team in an efficient and comfortable way.”

British cyclist David Millar, who served a two-year doping ban but is now on the athletes’ committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency, called for UCI honorary president Hein Verbruggen to resign in the wake of the revelations.

Meanwhile, British cyclist David Millar, who served a two-year doping ban but is now on the athletes’ committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency, called for UCI honorary president Hein Verbruggen to resign in the wake of the Armstrong scandal.

The Dutchman was president of the UCI as Armstrong powered his way into the history books and last year said he was convinced the racer had “never, never, never” doped.

Millar told Britain’s domestic Press Association that the UCI had to take some responsibility, as it was “obvious” from blood data and medical reports that doping was part of cycling’s culture, particularly in big races.

“There was only a tiny minority getting good results without drugs and they really were the outsiders. The first step for the UCI is that Verbruggen has to be removed,” he added, calling for him to admit that mistakes were made.

UCI president Pat McQuaid, pictured in September 2012, said UCI was still studying the USADA dossier against Lance Armstrong. The UCI — under pressure to explain how drug cheats managed to avoid detection — has strenuously denied claims from a former team-mate of Armstrong that he donated money to cover-up a positive dope test in the 2001 Tour of Switzerland.

Tour de France director Prudhomme, however, called the UCI “pioneers” in the fight against drug use, highlighting the introduction of biological passports and increased testing, including out of competition.

British rider Bradley Wiggins also pointed out that widespread doping was not part of the current professional cycling culture.

“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,” the 2012 Tour winner and Olympic time-trial champion told Britain’s Sky News television.

Armstrong, meanwhile, was still maintaining his silence over the affair, tweeting only on his latest work with his Livestrong cancer charity.

“So proud of what we’ve accomplished together,” he wrote.

Tyler Hamilton, among 11 teammates who testified against Armstrong, said he was especially sad to learn that so many riders other than him were pressued into doping to succeed.

“A lot of these younger guys were pressured into it,” he said. “It seems like there was, from what they said, a lot more pressure put on them than there was on me.

“It seems like Lance pressured a lot of the people, a lot of the younger riders to go ahead and do it, if not to help them, to support him. Even the doctors who were on the team were really his doctors.”