The UCI Management Committee on Friday voted to leave vacant the top prize from the Tour de France between 1999 and 2005 and to suspend the defamation lawsuit against journalist Paul Kimmage.
In an emergency meeting called in Geneva to address the fallout from the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, the committee also voted to install an independent commission to examine accusations of corruption at the UCI made in sworn testimony included in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s Armstrong case file.
“The UCI Management Committee acknowledged that a cloud of suspicion would remain hanging over this dark period – but that while this might appear harsh for those who rode clean, they would understand there was little honor to be gained in reallocating places,” the UCI said in a statement. “The committee agreed that part of the independent commission's remit would be to find ways to ensure that persons caught for doping were no longer able to take part in the sport, including as part of an entourage.”
The committee urged riders implicated in the Armstrong investigation to return prize money earned between 1998 and 2005 as well.
"As I said on Monday, UCI is determined to turn around this painful episode in the history of our sport. We will take whatever actions are deemed necessary by the independent Commission and we will put cycling back on track,” said UCI president Pat McQuaid, a plaintiff in the suit against Kimmage. "Today, cycling is a completely different sport from what it was in the period 1998-2005. Riders are now subject to the most innovative and effective anti-doping procedures and regulations in sport. Nevertheless, we have listened to the world's reaction to the Lance Armstrong affair and have taken these additional decisive steps in response to the grave concerns raised."
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