Deutsche Welle, 26 October 2012
The
1999-2005 Tours de France will remain winnerless after Lance Armstrong's
disqualification. With cycling on the brakes after the doping fallout, next
year's Road World Championships have an odd mascot: Pinocchio.
The
decision surprised few: Many riders who finished behind Armstrong also doped.
Cycling's governing body called on Armstrong and others to return prize money
they had received - in his case, up to three million euros ($3.9 million), an
extra hit considering that he has lost so many lucrative sponsorships since the
scandal broke.
"A
cloud of suspicion would remain hanging over this dark period," a
statement from the International Cycling Union (UCI) read, but "while this
might appear harsh for those who rode clean, they would understand there was
little honor to be gained in reallocating places."
The UCI
also announced that it would set up a "fully independent external
commission" to investigate allegations made against the body over the
Armstrong affair.
"UCI
is determined to turn around this painful episode in the history of our
sport," said the body's president, Pat McQuaid. "We will take
whatever actions are deemed necessary by the independent commission, and we
will put cycling back on track.
"Today,
cycling is a completely different sport from what it was in the period
1998-2005. Riders are now subject to the most innovative and effective
anti-doping procedures and regulations in sport."
Though
Armstrong never failed a test, witnesses, including former teammates, testified
against him. On Monday, the UCI formally stripped Armstrong of his seven titles
after ratifying the United States Anti-Doping Agency's decision to ban the
41-year-old Texan for life and nullify his results from August 1998 onward.
'Proud of
my second places'
Germany's
Jan Ullrich, who finished second to Armstrong in 2000, 2001, 2003, remains
indifferent. Ullrich, Tour champion in 1997, was himself found guilty of doping
by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in February, in relation to the Operation
Puerto blood-doping scandal that engulfed cycling six years ago.
"I've
ended my career and I have always said that I'm proud of my second
places," Ullrich said in August. "It doesn't really bother me that
much."
Among other
second-place riders, Alex Zuelle's Festina team was thrown out of the 1998 race
after manager Bruno Roussel confessed "an organized doping system."
Ivan Basso sat out a two-year ban for his involvement in Spain's Operation
Puerto.
As for the
puppet representing the 2013 Road World Championships, organizers said:
"Ours is a Pinocchio connected to his origins, happy, athletic and
attentive. He is looking at the horizon, expressing an optimistic attitude
versus the future. The expression of his face is smiling, happy, positive and
at the same time astonished."
mkg/jr (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)
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