The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), cycling's world governing body, has contacted Tour de France owners Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) after Johan Bruyneel was present on the race as a broadcaster despite a lifetime ban from all cycling activities.
Now aged 60 years and living in Spain, Bruyneel has shared photographs of himself at the Tour last week. One images depicts him in front of an ASO promo hoarding featuring all of the Tour's former winners, with Lance Armstrong's name included with a line through it for each win he was stripped of.
He also shared an image of himself meeting US Lidl Trek rider Quinn Simmons - probably doing so because Simmons is the US champion and Bruyneel works for the US-based podcast, The Move. One of Bruyneel's images also depicts him with a smiling Fabian Cancellara
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Bruyneel, a former pro rider who won two stages on the Tour, was team manager for Lance Armstrong during the peak years of his career. The Belgian was banned for life from the sport after aiding and encouraging riders to dope while he was a manager at the US Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams.
However, he was present at the Tour de France, in the start village, before stage 12 to Hautacam. Bruyneel was working for Vive le vélo, a programme broadcast by the Flemish-language Belgian public television channel VRT1. He was in an area of the race inside a cordon closed off to the public and where accredition would be required to gain access.
The UCI has issued a statement confirming Bruyneel was present and saying he should not have been there. However, it pointed out that ASO, and not the UCI, was responsible for granting accreditation for those on the race.
"Mr Bruyneel is banned for life from taking part in any activity related to cycling," the UCI said. "While he is free to attend a cycling event registered on the UCI international calendar - such as the Tour de France - as a regular spectator, he is strictly prohibited from participating in the event in any role or capacity, or from accessing areas that are closed to the public.
"This includes, in particular, areas of the Tour de France that require accreditation. As a person serving a lifetime ban, Mr Bruyneel was therefore not authorised to be present in the Tour de France start village or team area.
"The UCI confirms that it has contacted ASO to clarify whether Mr Bruyneel was granted an official accreditation, to understand how this could have happened, and to ensure that no further accreditation will be issued to him."
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It added it was now "closely following this matter and will take all appropriate measures". The UCI also made it clear that on October 25th, 2018, Bruyneel was "sanctioned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) with a life ban for anti-doping rules violations when he worked with the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team and the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team".
Leendert Derck, the editor-in-chief of Vive le vélo, has already commented on Bruyneel working on his show at the Tour. But he seemed to believe the ethics related to inviting him were the issue rather than Bruyneel's presence representing an apparent breach of his lifetime ban.
The programme persisted with its plan to have Bruyneel on its evening edition covering the first summit finish of the Tour even after they were asked questions about it when journalists spotted the banned Belgian at the race earlier in the day.
"We have carefully considered whether we can invite him," Derck said as the show prepared to work with Bruyneel and broadcast his contribution later that day.
"According to VRT rules, we are allowed to invite someone who has been suspended, but this must be mentioned. We've also made that clear to Bruyneel himself. He knows that questions about his past will arise, and he's prepared to answer them."
Derck added while Bruyneel stayed on the sidelines in the years after his ban was first imposed, he had in recent years been working with Lance Armstrong, also banned for life, and fellow doper George Hincapie on The Move, their cycling podcast.
"It is relevant for us to put the person sitting next to Armstrong in context, who many younger cycling followers may not know," Derck said.
"He still follows the race fanatically. His analyses are often very insightful. He sees the race incredibly well and is still a very strong tactician. He also still stays in touch with team leaders and managers from the current peloton.
"But I understand that some people will still wonder why we're featuring Bruyneel again. He has often behaved arrogantly towards the media in the past. It's that arrogance that offends many people.
"If Bruyneel didn't carry that past with him, he would undoubtedly be asked to be an analyst often. We don't want to feature him as a regular analyst either. But it's good to invite him at least once."
