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UCI chief criticizes predecessors of doping connivence

Xinhua, March 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

UCI President Brian Cookson said Monday he will ask former UCI leader Hein Verbruggen to give up his honorary presidency after a scathing report into the sport's doping culture revealed the governing body colluded with and protected Lance Armstrong.

The 227-page report, published after a year-long probe, criticized Verbruggen and successor Pat McQuaid for letting doping flourish and breaking rules and covering up for the sport's star rider.

Cookson admitted cycling still has "an endemic problem of lower-level doping."

Cookson said Armstrong's first Tour de France win in 1999 was "an absolutely critical moment" in sending a message the UCI was not serious about stopping doping.

The UCI chief questioned the claim of one witness in the report who suggested 90 percent of top-level riders still dope, but acknowledged "have not solved the problem". Endi