Organiser of the 2009 Tour of Ireland pro stage race, Darach McQuaid has rejected findings that Lance Armstrong only agreed to ride the race because his brother and then UCI president Pat McQuaid allowed him return to racing earlier than he was eligible.
Darach McQuaid said the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) making a link between Armstrong being allowed to ride the Tour Down Under in exchange for his agreeing to ride the Tour of Ireland “and showing actual proof” of that link were “two different things”.
The CIRC report published yesterday said Pat McQuaid was initially completely against allowing Armstrong return to racing some 13 days before his period in a pre-comeback doping programme had been completed.
However, it said in October 2008 Pat McQuaid did a sudden u-turn in agreeing to Armstrong’s request, meaning he could ride the Tour Down Under in Australia, in January 2009, and collect a $1 million appearance fee.
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The CIRC said that at the same time as Pat McQuaid’s U-turn, Armstrong agreed to ride the Tour of Ireland, which was to take place later in 2009.
And the commission says Armstrong’s Livestrong foundation was also caught up in the episode.
“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,” the CIRC report says of the summit that began in Dublin the day after the Tour of Ireland ended.
“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.”
While no accusation is levelled against Darach McQuaid by the CIRC, his race is effectively named as the beneficiary of a trade off between his brother and Lance Armstrong.
Darach McQuaid told stickybottle he welcomed the CIRC report into the history of doping and also its recommendations for the future.
However, he took issue with the report’s “inference” that he “was involved in some backroom deal” with his brother or the UCI involving Armstrong being permitted by the UCI to return to racing early “with a quid pro quo involving his agreement to ride the Tour of Ireland”.
He said the wheels were in motion on getting Armstrong to come to Ireland before the UCI made any decision on his early return to racing.
“When Lance Armstrong announced his comeback in early September 2008, we had recently hosted the Tour of Ireland very successfully, over five stages, with riders of the calibre of Mark Cavendish (above) winning three stages,” Darach McQuaid said.
“I immediately reached out to Lance Armstrong and begun discussions on his participation in the 2009 Tour of Ireland.
“I had some previous interaction with staff at the Livestrong cancer charity, and also heard that they were looking to organise a global cancer summit straight after the Tour de France.”
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He said because President Sarkozy had lobbied Livestrong, it looked likely the summit would take place in France after the 2009 Tour.
And when it became clear Armstrong would ride the Giro, McQuaid said Rome was also mooted as a potential venue for the Livestrong summit.
He added that against the backdrop of the summit being linked to those countries where Armstrong would be racing, he pursued Armstrong to ride the Tour of Ireland and at the same time worked on getting the Livestrong summit to come to Dublin.
“I made contact with people in the Taoiseach’s department and began the process of trying to attract this important meeting of the world’s medical cancer community to Dublin,” he said.
“I was working with directors of the Livestrong charity directly on this, bringing them together with Government and Irish Cancer Society staff to try to make the bid to host the summit a reality. Ultimately, this process was successful.
“However, one thing was not dependent on the other. Lance Armstrong had already expressed interest to ride the Tour of Ireland, before the issue of his eligibility to ride the Tour Down Under became an issue.
“At the time, and up to July 2009, we had tried to gain enough sponsorship funding to ensure we could cover the cost of a high level five day televised professional cycling event,” he said in reference to the Tour of Ireland.
“Ultimately, even though we reached out to the UCI and Lance Armstrong to see if new corporate sponsors could be found, we had to reduce the event by two days.
“Many media outlets are saying the (CIRC) report confirms a link between Pat McQuaid’s decision to allow Lance to ride the Tour Down Under, and the Tour of Ireland," Darach McQuaid added.
“There are also media reports suggesting a link between the Livestrong Global Cancer Summit and Lance Armstrong riding the Tour of Ireland.
“Of course there was a link, but it was nothing underhand or spurious.
“To suggest the cancer summit was a cover, or linked in any way, to some UCI-Lance Armstrong secret agreement, does the work of the charity and the attendees a great disservice.
“Lance Armstrong had expressed an interest to ride the Tour of Ireland. Our work in attracting his charity’s cancer summit to Dublin made the chances of him riding the Tour of Ireland a lot better and this is how it ultimately happened.
“The Livestrong Global Cancer Summit was attracted to Ireland on its own merits and with strong Government and local charity support. It was deemed a big success with many of the world’s top cancer experts attending.
“The (CIRC) report suggests (Armstrong) would never have ridden a race such as the Tour of Ireland for no fee.
“In fact, he rode other races in 2009 without a fee. The only races that paid appearance fees to Lance Armstrong in 2009 were the Tour Down Under, the Tour of California and the Giro d’Italia.”
McQuaid said the CIRC had never issued him an invitation to speak to them to offer his insight into their thought process on linking the Tour Down Under and Tour of Ireland.
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