A new report says Pat McQuaid looked for Lance Armstrong's help with sponsorship for the Tour of Ireland and that a Livestrong summit in Dublin was organised as cover for his trip here for such a small race (Photo: Stephan McMahon)
The major new Cycling Independent Reform Commission report, published in the early hours of this morning, has set out in great detail the circumstances under which Lance Armstrong came to ride the Tour of Ireland pro race in 2009.
The report has linked the UCI allowing Armstrong return to the sport 13 days before his doping quarantine period was served with his agreeing to ride the race that Pat McQuaid's friends and family members were involved in.
The report says at a time when the Tour Down Under was paying the American $1 million per year to ride its race, there was no fee for him to ride the Tour of Ireland.
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This was despite the fact it was a struggling, small three-day event.
It also says Pat McQuaid, who was UCI president at the time, approached Armstrong for his help in securing sponsorship for the race.
It finds Armstrong's Livestrong charity organised a cancer summit in Dublin for immediately after the Tour of Ireland as cover for him travelling here for such a small race.
And it outlines how McQuaid, along with his wife and his mother, were guests of honour at the charity's dinner in Dublin.
Below, we have published in full the extract from the report in relation to Armstrong's comeback in 2009 and how the CIRC has concluded it was linked to his riding the Tour of Ireland later that year.
There was no evidence of a direct agreement between McQuaid and Armstrong. But the UCI says McQuaid did a U-turn on allowing Armstrong return to the sport early and that Armstrong said at the same time he would ride the Tour of Ireland.
2008: Lance Armstrong comeback
In the summary of “A Report on Corruption in the Leadership at the Union Cycliste Internationale,” there is an allegation that “in 2009 when Lance Armstrong was making a comeback to cycling, he had not been in the UCI doping testing pool for the previously proscribed period of time. Mr. McQuaid agreed to a bending of these rules, which allowed Mr. Armstrong to ride in the Tour Down Under for an appearance fee of $1 million and in exchange, Mr. Armstrong agreed to ride in the Tour of Ireland for free - a race he otherwise would not have participated in. Further, that Mr. McQuaid benefited from this agreement because his relatives or friends were involved in directing the Tour of Ireland”.
Based on documents, open source information and interviews, the CIRC has been able to identify the timeline of events below in relation to Lance Armstrong’s comeback.
From January 2008 onwards, discussions took place between the Tour Down Under organisers and Lance Armstrong looking at the possibility of him attending the 2009 race as a special guest.
On 4 August 2008, USADA officially informed Lance Armstrong that he has been added to the USADA Registered Testing Pool (“RTP”) effective 1 August 2008 and that he would regain eligible status on 1 February 2009. This was confirmed by UCI Anti - Doping Manager Anne Gripper who notified Lance Armstrong on 8 August 2008 that he must be available for out-of-competition testing for six months before regaining eligibility to compete internationally as per Article 77 of the UCI ADR.
On 16 September 2008, Mike Turtur the organiser of the Tour Down Under advised UCI that there were reports about Lance Armstrong intending to participate in the Tour Down Under, which took place from 20 to 25 January 2008. Considering the six month requirement for Lance Armstrong to be in the RTP before going back to competition, he asked whether this could be an issue for Lance Armstrong’s participation. CIRC understands that Lance Armstrong was to be paid an appearance fee of USD 1 million to be given to his Livestrong Foundation, in exchange for his participation in the 2009 Tour Down Under. He would have received a total of USD 3 million for his participation in the 2009-2011 editions.
At the time of his comeback, Lance Armstrong was paid a minimum salary by Astana and would receive money for his charity by doing appearances at different races.
On 29 September 2008, several news articles on the Lance Armstrong comeback quoted UCI President Pat McQuaid as saying that no exceptions would be made and that the rules would be applied. Lance Armstrong was quoted as saying he was “hoping that a difference of 10 days to comply with UCI rules doesn’t derail his planned comeback at the TDU,” and that the UCI “would apply common sense when interpreting rules that require a retired rider to register in the anti-doping program six months before returning to competition". He then said: “We’re not asking for any exception, but they don’t always apply this rule. We all remember Mario Cipollini last year at the Tour of California. This rule was not applied to that. It’s a tricky situation. You’re talking about a few days overlap.”
At the end of September 2008, internal discussions took place within UCI as to whether an exception to the rule should be made to enable Lance Armstrong to participate in the Tour Down Under. Strict application to the rule was recommended by UCI administration as the way forward, noting that Lance Armstrong should set an example. One argument was that he was informed of the rule in August and did not react. One former UCI staff member stated: “the heroes should have ethics of the same level and show the example: comply with the rules”. Reference was also made to the significant political pressure the UCI President was under, mainly from Australia, which had planned a big event involving high-level politicians around Lance Armstrong’s participation in the Tour Down Under.
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On 2 October 2008, the President of UCI, Pat McQuaid, informed the Lance Armstrong team that Lance Armstrong could not participate in the Tour Down Under.
On the morning of 6 October 2008, Pat McQuaid advised his senior team that he had decided that Lance Armstrong could ride the Tour Down Under. Several interviewees spoke about an abrupt “change of mind” by the UCI President that took many people at UCI by surprise and underlined the fact that the decision was unilaterally taken by the UCI President. No explanation was then given internally as to why Lance Armstrong was suddenly given an exemption to ride the Tour Down Under.
On 6 October 2008 in the afternoon, a letter was sent to Lance Armstrong by Pat McQuaid advising that according to article 77 of the UCI ADR he was ineligible for participation in races on UCI’s international calendar until 6 February 2009, as he only informed UCI by fax on 6 August 2008 of his intention to return to competition. Pat McQuaid expressed disappointment with Lance Armstrong for referring to the case of Cipollini and did not deny that Mario Cipollini did not observe article 77 the UCI ADR before participating in the Tour of California. He added that this should not have happened and that there was no intention not to apply the rule or to grant an exception. Pat McQuaid concluded by noting, “above all I cannot imagine that you would consider the failure of another rider to respect the rules as a justification for not respecting the rules yourself. Even in such case the norm has to be the respect for the rules and not the disregarding of the rules. By returning to cycling, one accepts the rules of cycling”.
Available documentation shows that there was concern inside UCI that Pat McQuaid was trying to cover his decision to let Lance Armstrong compete by publicly appearing to continue to deny him an exception to the rule.
On 6 October 2008, Lance Armstrong confirmed to Pat McQuaid that he had decided to participate in the Tour of Ireland. Sources and documentation available to UCI show that this decision was linked to the decision of Pat McQuaid to let him race in Australia. The last time Lance Armstrong participated in the Tour of Ireland was in 1992. That same day, Pat McQuaid advised his brother, Darach McQuaid who was the Project Director of the Tour of Ireland that Lance Armstrong wanted to come to Ireland. Darach McQuaid responded few hours later that he already had the wheels in motion for letters to the high-level Irish personalities interested in helping.
Late on 6 October 2008, a letter was sent from Lance Armstrong to Pat McQuaid asking him “to consider an exemption from a strict interpretation of Article 77” and outlining several reasons that he considered outweighed the need for strict adherence to article 77.
On 8 October 2008, Lance Armstrong and the organisers of the Tour Down Under were officially informed by Pat McQuaid that Lance Armstrong was allowed to participate in the Tour Down Under. The letter stated: “‘The purpose of Article 77 is to ensure that riders are properly tested before returning to international races from retirement. Since the introduction of the rule in 2004, significant improvement in testing have been made. Indeed, with the implementation of the program ‘100% against doping’ and the biological passport, the UCI is confident that the level of testing now required under the biological passport programme is far higher than that envisaged by the original post retirement testing rule. UCI’s Anti-Doping Department has assured me that they will make arrangements to ensure that you will have been tested sufficiently prior to the Tour Down Under to enable you to have a biological passport which can be assessed by the UCI’s group of scientific experts.
Provided that you remain fully available for this testing program to be completed, the principle of the post retirement testing rule will be respected and the short period by which we are shortening the period you will have been in the RTP will not undermine the effect of the rule. As a result and given that you have been considered by USADA to have been reintegrated into their Registered Testing Pool on 1 August 2008, I am satisfied that we should allow you to participate in the Tour Down Under”.
On 8 October 2008, UCI released a statement entitled: “Lance Armstrong to start the 2009 Tour Down Under”.
In an interview with Eurosport dated 9 October 2008, the UCI Anti-Doping Manager stated about the ABP: “We are in the early stages of the biological passport. This is a huge project in the fight against doping and I think we should move forward in a careful way. We must be patient and be assured that we have sufficient information at our disposal to put it in place. This year was a start-up phase. We tried to get maximum information about the riders carrying in particular out of competition controls. Unfortunately we are often looking for them to be able to do these tests...”
In October 2008, after UCI’s decision to authorise Lance Armstrong to participate in the 2009 Tour down Under, article 77 of UCI’s 2008 ADR was amended after receiving approval from the Management Committee by a vote at the end of December 2008. Under the new provision, article 84 in the 2009 ADR that entered into force on 1 January 2009, a rider was required to give 6 months’ notice of his intention to return to competition and to make himself available for out-of-competition testing for a period of 4 months.
On 4 December 2008, Lance Armstrong held an online press conference from the Astana team’s training camp in Tenerife, Canary Islands, during which he expressed his interest in riding the Tour of Ireland.
In January 2009, available documentation shows that UCI had difficulty organising a sample collection for Lance Armstrong because of inconsistent information regarding his whereabouts.
On 29-30 January 2009, in the minutes of the UCI Management Committee meeting under the section on “UCI Pro Tour”, it is recorded that Mike Turtur, organiser of the Tour Down Under stated that the Tour Down Under was a real success as there was very good media coverage and the public came in great numbers, notably because of the presence of Lance Armstrong. The President then recalled that UCI had authorised Lance Armstrong to go back to competition before the date set by article 77 of UCI’s 2008 ADR to enable him to participate in the Tour Down Under. He then specified that Lance Armstrong had been the object of many anti-doping controls and that the fight against cancer campaign led by Lance Armstrong was a great success in Australia.
On 22 February 2009, Livestrong announced that the launch of the first Livestrong Global Cancer Summit would take place in Dublin on 24-26 August 2009 following Lance Armstrong's participation in the Tour of Ireland, from 19-23 August 2009.
From March onwards, documents in CIRC’s possession show that the Tour of Ireland race organisation was struggling to complete the budget. Consequently in June 2009, when the organisation was still €250,000 short, the UCI President asked Lance Armstrong if he knew any US contacts who would take up a sponsorship package. On 2 July 2009, Alan Rushton, Tour of Ireland race Director advised Pat McQuaid that due to a 50% reduction in the amount of their main sponsor funding that year, they had decided to reduce the length of the Tour that year to 3 days, a decision which greatly disappointed Pat McQuaid.
On 21-23 August 2009, the Tour of Ireland was held and on 24-26 August 2009 the Livestrong Global Cancer Summit took place in Dublin. Pat McQuaid, his wife and mother were Lance Armstrong’s special guests at the Summit’s dinner. The day after, Pat McQuaid thanked Lance Armstrong for the invitation and particularly for “his gracious words’”, which were very much appreciated by his mother, as well as for “the Nike assistance”.
In an interview with the North Queensland Register dated 18 October 2012, the former UCI Anti-Doping Manager Anne Gripper stated about the Lance Armstrong comeback: ''I have always said that Armstrong's influence was a danger in the sport. He was allowed to ride in the 2009 Tour Down Under. He shouldn't have been. Once again, for Lance, special consideration was provided. The justification was that [former South Australia premier] Mike Rann and [race director] Mike Turtur had announced to the whole people of South Australia that Lance was going to be there. For the UCI to say, 'Sorry, he can't, would have appeared churlish and mean-spirited and really what difference do 13 days make? For me, it was a case of, 'Well, sure 13 days may not make a lot of practical difference' but the perception of once again rules being different for Lance than other riders shows his nfluence was so great, he basically told the sport how to administer its rules.''
According to documents in the CIRC’s possession and confirmed by interviewees, Lance Armstrong’s decision to have his Livestrong summit in Dublin was made after his decision to compete in the Tour of Ireland as an excuse to explain why he was riding the Tour of Ireland. It would otherwise have made no sense for Lance Armstrong to take part in the Tour of Ireland for free. Lance Armstrong’s participation made a huge difference to such a small race, particularly when big races were ready to pay around a million dollars to get him to participate.
Conclusions
Based on the above facts, documents in the CIRC’s possession and information provided by several interviewees:
- When Pat McQuaid made the decision to allow Lance Armstrong to compete in the Tour Down Under, UCI failed to apply its own rules by not applying Article 77 of the 2008 UCI ADR. In doing so, UCI damaged its reputation by sending the message that rules applied differently to some athletes compared to the rest of the peloton.
- The decision to amend Article 77 of the 2008 UCI ADR was made after UCI gave Lance Armstrong permission to compete in the Tour Down Under and in order to enable him to compete without being in breach of the rules. Again, it is clearly not appropriate for a governing body to change its rules for the benefit of one of its stars. It is also noted that UCI appears to have considered that because the new provision took effect from 1 January 2009 the rules were complied with; however, it appears that it failed to appreciate that Lance Armstrong had still not complied with the requirement to give 6 months’ notice of his intention to return to competition and there was therefore still a failure to apply the rules.
- The Management Committee Members displayed a lack of judgement by not challenging the decision of the UCI President to allow Lance Armstrong an exemption to return to competition early.
- By October 2008, the ABP was being put in place and out-of-competition testing was not sufficiently operational for the UCI to be able to decide confidently to shorten the qualifying period for Lance Armstrong on the basis of an improvement of the level of testing.
- In terms of governance, the decision to shorten the qualifying period for Lance Armstrong should not have been taken unilaterally by the UCI President but rather should have been considered by the UCI Management Committee. This is particularly so given the political implications for the UCI as an institution, the President’s own acute awareness of the problems that would arise if Armstrong was allowed to race, and the advice of UCI administration to its President to follow the rules.
- UCI and particularly the President missed an opportunity to demonstrate that the organisation was committed to applying its own rules and to stamp its authority on the sport, which would have generated greater respect.
- Without detracting from the comments above, it is however noted that Lance Armstrong put UCI in a difficult situation by publicising his participation in the Tour Down Under after having been informed that he was not eligible to participate. As a result, UCI was in the position that whichever decision it took, it would have been criticised by either the Tour Down Under organisers, the South Australian government, the public in Australia and Lance Armstrong for being too strict or by WADA and the media for amending their rules to favour of Lance Armstrong.
- CIRC has considered all the evidence and whilst there is no direct evidence of an agreement between Lance Armstrong and Pat McQuaid, documents in the CIRC’s possession show a temporal link between the two decisions: in the morning Pat McQuaid told UCI staff that he had changed his mind and decided to let Lance Armstrong participate in the Tour Down Under, and that same evening Lance Armstrong told Pat McQuaid that he had decided to participate in the Tour of Ireland.
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