Pat McQuaid does not agree Lance Armstrong's doping was the most sophisticated ever, saying the Festina team was on the same level in the 1990s.
Former UCI president, Pat McQuaid has resiled from his most critical comments on Lance Armstrong, and almost a year on from losing office he now believes the disgraced American was unfairly treated and was the victim of a witch hunt.
Speaking during a visit to the Tour de France, McQuaid told reporters he had softened his view since saying at the time of the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) report on Armstrong that he had “no place in cycling".
"That was an emotional press conference,” the Irishman said.
“At the time, on behalf of cycling, I said that. I don't necessarily think quite the same now.
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"He is a victim. Travis Tygart set out on a witch hunt with Dick Pound behind him," he said, referring to the USADA chief executive and former World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president.
"I do think that it was very much a one man show; USADA went after him. They made a lot of statements about their job being to protect clean athletes.
“The actual statistics don't show that they protect clean athletes. The number of times they tested Lance Armstrong, that WADA tested Lance Armstrong, was minimal during his whole career.
Lance Armstrong winning the world title aged 22 years in Oslo in 1993. He has fallen from grace spectacularly but there are signs of a softening in attitudes towards him (Photo: Stefano Sirotti)
"He's a victim of a USADA witch hunt. There were many others involved in doping. The fact that USADA say it was the most sophisticated doping system in the history of sport, that's their words, I wouldn't necessarily agree with that.
“Doping had gone on in cycling equally as sophisticated as that, the Festina affair was equally as sophisticated before Lance came along."
The comments came just one day after Stephen Roche, and other former Tour winners, told a Dutch newspaper that Armstrong’s seven wins in the Tour should still be on the official winners’ roll.
Roche echoed some of McQuaid’s words, saying Armstrong had been singled out for much harsher treatment than other proven dopers, who had not had all of their results taken from the record books.
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McQuaid said that under Brian Cookson, he had yet to see the big changes for the UCI promised by the Briton and his supporters.
“A lot of it has been PR statements. There's been no change, no new decisions taken."
He was critical of the UCI’s handling of the biological passport-related ban for Russian Denis Menchov.
He said while the world governing body was within the rules not to publicly announce the outcome of the case, a statement should have been issued for transparency purposes.
The lack of an announcement has been defended by Cookson, who claimed the UCI has only commented on such cases in the past if a rider or their team has made a statement.
The UCI’s silence on the issue has been seen as contentious in some quarters because Menchov rode for Russian team Katusha. It is owned by Igor Makarov, Cookson’s most high profile supporter during his successful election campaign against McQuaid.
However, McQuaid conceded it was easy to comment now that he was on the outside of the organisation, adding only the current officials could make decisions.
He insisted because of the actions taken during his eight years in charge, the sport was now cleaner than ever.
“There's less doping going on in cycling, I believe, than there ever has been in the history of cycling.
“I set about tackling that culture and I think I did tackle it, quite successfully.
"When I look at the peloton today, I can look back with a lot of gratitude on what I've achieved in the eight years I was president."
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