The Irish journalists and authors Paul Kimmage and David Walsh are among a group of well known anti drugs figures who have just launched a campaign to bring about positive change in the world cycling.
The Change Cycling Now group is being led by Jaimie Fuller, the chairman of the Skins Australian clothing brand currently suing the UCI for $2 million for its alleged mismanagement of the doping issue in the sport.
The group also includes Dr Michael Ashenden and Antoine Vayer.
Ashendon served on the UCI biological passport expert panel. Vayer is a professor in sports and education and has also been a strong voice against drugs in cycling.
The group is to hold a summit in London this Sunday and Monday.
On Monday Travis Tygart will join the summit via a conference call. As chief executive of the US Anti-Doping Agency, he played a key role in the agency’s investigation into Lance Armstrong and some of his team mates.
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Both Kimmage and Walsh will address the conference over the weekend.
Fuller is the main driving force behind the group and has just released a statement explaining what he and the others involved are trying to achieve.
“The creation of Change Cycling Now reflects the frustration and anger that I, and many people directly involved in the sport feel towards the UCI and their management practices,” he said.
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“I believe we have put together a very strong core group which represents the feelings of thousands of people within the sport who want to see definite change. It would be easy to sit around and criticise and accuse, but we shall be discussing positive ways to affect the future with changes that can move us back towards a sport that has integrity and is also clean and credible.”
“I am in no doubt that this group also represents the millions of cycling fans who share the views of those who will be around the table. We will also be exploring ways to ensure that these fans can join with us to send an unequivocal message to the UCI and its officers that the current approach is simply not good enough.”
Profiles of those involved:
Dr. Michael Ashenden
Blood doping expert
Michael Ashenden is regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on blood doping and the biological passport. He is a leading anti-doping campaigners and formerly served as an expert on the UCI panel. He has acted as an expert witness in high profile cases, including those of Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador. He insists the Cycling Federation’s reputation as leaders in the field of drug testing in recent years is ill deserved.
Jaimie Fuller
Chairman, SKINS
Jaimie Fuller is a businessman whose vision prompted the creation of Change Cycling Now. He is a dedicated cycling fan and a firm advocate of The True Spirit Of Competition; a maxim which epitomises his company’s corporate approach He is based at the Skins’ headquarters in Switzerland and in November 2012, served a demand on the UCI for damages of $2 million as a consequence of alleged mis-management in the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.
Paul Kimmage
Sports journalist and author
Paul Kimmage is a sports journalist who, until his departure in early 2012, wrote for the Sunday Times newspaper. Kimmage had a career as a professional cyclist, participating in three Tour de France races and riding for teams RMO and Fagor-MBK. He retired in 1989 with no wins, blaming systemic doping in the peloton. In his book Rough Ride he detailed his experiences as a domestique which included references to drug use, including his own. Kimmage maintains a passion for the removal of doping from the sport of cycling.
Antoine Vayer
Professor for sports and physical education
Antoine Vayer worked with the Festina team as the first real “cycling trainer” from 1995, where he introduced modern methods of studying athletes to create training plans for increased performance. After the 1998 affair, he left to create “AlternatiV”, to encourage scientists and the riders to use his methods. He attended the Festina trial in 2000 as a “performance expert” and “morality witness”. Today, Vayer teaches as a professor for sports and physical education in Brittany and is a contributing author for the French magazine Le cycle and a writer for Le Monde.
David Walsh
Sports journalist and Author
David Walsh, is the chief sportswriter for the Sunday Times and has written four books on Lance Armstrong, including L.A. Confidential: Les secrets de Lance Armstrong. Armstrong’s have lawyers filed lawsuits in various countries including one against the Sunday Times. Many of the incidents and allegations in the book were featured in the USADA 2012 report on the US Postal Service cycling team.
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