Former UCI president Pat McQuaid shares a joke with Johan Bruyneel at the Hour Record ride of Bradley Wiggins; the Belgian was a VIP guest at the UCI event despite a 10-year ban.
Bradley Wiggins smashed the UCI World Hour Record in London yesterday, with a distance of 54.526km.
Riding to massive encouragement from the sell-out crowd at the Lee Valley Velodrome, he put 1.589km onto the standard set by fellow Briton Alex Dowsett just last month.
However, many observers were perplexed at how banned former manager Johan Bruyneel came to be present, apparently with official accreditation, at a UCI sanctioned event.
He was pictured, above, chatting and sharing a joke with former UCI president Pat McQuaid.
While the Irish man was entitled to be at the event and would have no control over whom else was in attendance or who he may bump into, the emergence of the photo will come as a major embarrassment for him.
Advertisement
The fact the duo seem to be sharing a joke simply compounds the public relations gaff for McQuaid.
He was president of the UCI for eight years, during which time he said he had changed the doping culture in cycling.
Nice 2 catch up w/ my good friend & excolleague Miguelon today. We talked & laughed about this race, 20(!)years ago pic.twitter.com/FAMgF3CBcn
— Johan Bruyneel (@JohanBruyneel) June 7, 2015
Related News
Bruyneel, who also chatted and was photographed with Miguel Indurain trackside yesterday, is banned from the competitive side of the sport having been found to be at “the apex” of the doping ring around Armstrong.
The Belgian managed the disgraced Texan through the period of his career when he was fuelled by a cocktail of performance enhancers and won seven Tour de France titles.
His 10-year ban was imposed by USADA in April 2014 in the wake of its reasoned decision into Armstrong. Bruyneel fought the ban and lost.
How stringent that ban is, and exactly what it covers, may be teased out in coming weeks as the UCI comes under pressure to explain if it had any role in approving his accreditation.
While he is obviously not banned from spectating at races, his VIP status at a UCI sanctioned event has raised eyebrows judging by the many comments on social media when the photograph of him with McQuaid emerged.
Bruyneel’s presence will be seen in many people's eyes as undermining efforts to reduce the comfort zone around those who dope and those who coordinate it.
A USADA statement when Bruyneel was banned for a decade said: “(The) evidence establishes conclusively that Mr Bruyneel was at the apex of a conspiracy to commit widespread doping on the USPS and Discovery Channel teams spanning many years and many riders."
It added he also "trafficked in performance-enhancing drugs" and fostered an environment in which they were consumed.
"Bruyneel encouraged athletes to use doping products including EPO, blood transfusions, testosterone, and cortisone," the statement said.
Topics
