Governing body had pledged last May to sue him
Following today’s news that the UCI is taking legal action against journalist Paul Kimmage, former US pro Floyd Landis has confirmed that a case launched by the governing body over eight months ago appears not to have moved forward.
“They have never filed anything as far as I know, and they have subsequently never contacted me about it,” he told VeloNation via email.
On May 4th 2011 the UCI announced that it was suing the disqualified winner of the 2006 Tour de France. “The International Cycling Union (UCI), its current President, Mr Pat McQuaid, and one of its former Presidents, Mr Hein Verbruggen, have lodged a case in the Swiss courts against Mr Floyd Landis regarding repeated, serious attacks against their characters,” it said then in a release.
“By this step, made necessary by numerous unacceptable public statements by Mr Landis, the UCI is seeking to defend the integrity of the cycling movement as a whole against the accusations of a rider who, by breaching the Anti-doping Rules, caused cycling serious harm.”
Landis had accused his former US Postal Service team and its chief rider of doping, and claimed that the UCI accepted bribes to cover up a positive test by Armstrong in the 2001 Tour de Suisse.
The UCI denied this and subsequently said last May that the case had been lodged. Landis’ statements today raise doubts about that.
Meanwhile Kimmage told VeloNation this afternoon that he received a letter approximately ten days ago stating that McQuaid and Verbruggen were each seeking damages of 8,000 Swiss francs (about €6,600). They apparently told the Swiss District Court that the journalist had caused them ‘annoyance’ and that their ‘reputation has been seriously damaged’ by articles.
In addition to the fine, they are demanding that he doesn’t repeat the statements made previously about the UCI, and also that he pays for advertisements in international media publicising the final judgement of the court.
Kimmage said the case was about trying to keep him quiet, and that he had no intention of complying with the demands made. “Hell will freeze over before I issue either of those gentlemen an apology for anything,” he said. His full response can be seen here: