Investigation finds cheating still exists in cycling but only Chris Froome from current crop of professionals gave evidence
Monday 9 March 2015 18:01, UK
International Cycling Union president Brian Cookson will look to conduct more interviews with current riders after only one active professional was listed as having testified to the Cycling Independent Reform Commission’s (CIRC) investigation into doping.
The CIRC’s 228-page report, which was published on Monday, found that “doping continues to exist” in cycling and that no one “credible” would give the sport “a clean bill of health”.
Although the three-man CIRC panel interviewed 174 people, only Chris Froome from the current crop of riders publicly came forward to answer questions.
Cookson believes the report gave an accurate reflection of the state of the sport today but admitted more talks with riders need to be held.
He told Sky Sports News HQ: “First of all, we don’t know that a number of current riders didn’t testify anonymously. Everyone was given the opportunity of contributing in confidence to the commission, so it may well be that a number of current riders did contribute through that guarantee.
“A large number of team officials, doctors, coaches, managers and so on did testify – people who are currently active in the sport and will know what is going on.
“It is a reasonably good and current picture of the current situation in the cycling peloton, but I also think we need to do some more work to talk to more riders, so we are going to look at commissioning that sort of research.”
The CIRC’s 80,000-word report was the culmination of a 13-month investigation commissioned by Cookson into how doping became so prevalent in cycling and whether past UCI administrations had been complicit.
The report said the UCI had made improvements in the fight against doping, aided in particular by the biological passport, but Cookson said more measures could still be taken and warned cheats that they will be hunted down.
He added: “There are still people who are prepared to cheat, they are out there and they haven’t gone away completely, but their impact on our sport is hugely reduced.
"This is something that we are going to spend a lot of time analysing. We are going to look at what we need to do.
“I have got a message today for people out there who are still determined to cheat: we are going to catch you sooner or later and when we catch you, we will not aid you in covering up your activities, as was the case perhaps in the past.”
