Anti-doping probe will study Armstrong affair and other doping-related matters
The UCI has allocated a budget of three million Swiss francs (€2.4 million/$3.3 million) for the Cycling Independent Reform Commission it announced on Wednesday, setting out the amount it will pay to enable the investigators to fully assess the governing body.
The amount was confirmed to Bloomberg by the UCI, with the sporting body providing details after its announcement of the CIRC two days ago.
Former president Pat McQuaid originally said in October 2012 that the UCI would allow a fully independent review of its handling of the Lance Armstrong affair plus its earlier dealing with the Texan, the US Postal Service and the doping issue in general.
However the UCI then ended that Independent Commission in January 2013, seeking to blame USADA and WADA for what it said was a lack of cooperation and also saying that the process was going to prove too expensive.
Brian Cookson, who defeated McQuaid in the UCI presidential commission last September, had made clear that he felt the sport needed a completed independent review in order to move on from the Armstrong affair.
On Wednesday the UCI delivered on the first stage of that commitment, naming the three individuals who will lead the CIRC.
They are Swiss politician and former state prosecutor Dick Marty, CAS arbitrator Ulrich Haas and the Australian Peter Nicholson, who has a background in leading war crimes investigations.
The Commission members will be assisted, and the CIRC coordinated, by project director Aurélie Merle, who has a background in sports with the IOC and LOCOG plus investigation and justice work for the UN.
“This Commission will investigate the problems cycling has faced in recent years, especially the allegations that the UCI has been involved in wrongdoing in the past – allegations which have done so much to hurt the credibility of the UCI and our sport,” said Cookson, pledging that they would be able to carry out the task in a fully independent way.
“Their work will also be focused on understanding what went so wrong in our sport and they will make recommendations for change so that as far as possible those mistakes are not repeated.”
The UCI said that it wanted the commission to complete its work by the end of 2014. McQuaid and his predecessor Hein Verbruggen will have their roles assessed as part of the probe. Both have denied claims that they helped Armstrong to evade detection.
The allocated budget of three million Swiss francs is approximately one third of what the UCI’s net income was for 2012.