Tygart: ‘Not surprising UCI would attempt to undermine case’
Tensions between the UCI and USADA appear to have cropped up once again over the Lance Armstrong sanctioning, with UCI president Pat McQuaid questioning a delay in receiving the reasoned decision and evidence file, and USADA CEO Travis Tygart responding by saying that it is not a surprise that the UCI would seek to undermine its case.
The exchange echoes the terse dialogue expressed between the two bodies this summer in relation to jurisdiction over the matter.
McQuaid and the UCI issued a statement today following yesterday’s shift in the expected receipt of the file from this week to mid October. USADA stated then that the file would be sent ‘no later than October 15th’; VeloNation understands that after Lance Armstrong decided not to fight the charges against him, that further evidence emerged and has been added to the various case files.
The nature of that evidence is not known, but it is thought that it includes testimony from one or more new witnesses.
McQuaid questioned this gathering of new information today, suggesting that USADA should simply have proceeded with the evidence it had in its possession at the time that the sanctions of a life ban and the stripping of his results since 1998 were imposed on Armstrong.
“The UCI had no reason to assume that a full case file did not exist but USADA’s continued failure to produce the decision is now a cause for concern,” said McQuaid.
“It is over a month since USADA sanctioned Lance Armstrong. We thought that USADA were better prepared before initiating these proceedings” said Mr McQuaid.
The communiqué further faulted the American agency.
“It seems that it would have been more useful for USADA to have used the time of the Tour de France, the Olympic Games and the Road World Championships to prepare their case in full rather than to make announcements.
“It is at very least unusual that USADA would still be gathering evidence against a person after it has found that person guilty. The UCI assumes that the reasons for any difficulty in putting the evidence together will be explained in USADA’s decision.”
The statement concluded by saying that the UCI learned of the delays through media reports rather than any official communication from USADA. “The sooner UCI receives the decision and case file the sooner UCI can provide its response.”
Contacted by VeloNation, USADA provided a response from Tygart which made clear he did not agree with the UCI’s stance.
“It is not surprising that UCI would send a press release out attempting to undermine and question the substance of our case,” he said. “It is also troubling that they would claim to have had no contact with us which is inaccurate.
“As they know we will be providing them the ‘reasoned decision’ no later than October 15 through the process and at that time the questions contained in their publicly released statement today will be answered.”