UCI sets up 3-man panel to investigate doping past

A three-man independent panel will investigate cycling's doping past, including allegations the sport's governing body colluded with Lance Armstrong.
UCI President Brian Cookson said today the commission will investigate allegations "that the UCI has been involved in wrongdoing in the past allegations which have done so much to hurt the credibility of the UCI and our sport."
The probe is expected to center on the UCI's handling of doping in the late 1990s and early 2000s, especially its links with Armstrong. Much could hinge on whether Armstrong and former UCI presidents Hein Verbrugggen and Pat McQuaid agree to testify.
The UCI and Verbruggen have been accused of protecting Armstrong and helping cover up his doping. The American was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from Olympic sports for life after admitting to doping.

The investigative panel will be based in Lausanne, Switzerland, and will be called the Cycling Independent Reform Commission. Cookson said he wants the investigation completed this year.
The commission will be chaired by Dick Marty, a Swiss politician and former Swiss state prosecutor. The other members are German anti-doping expert Ulrich Haas and Peter Nicholson, a former Australian military officer and war crimes investigator.

"Their work will also be focused on understanding what went so wrong in our sport and they will make recommendations for change so that as far as possible those mistakes are not repeated," Cookson said in a statement.

In an interview published by Britain's Daily Mail in November, Armstrong said Verbruggen helped him cover up doping at the 1999 Tour de France. Verbruggen dismissed it as a "ridiculous story."
Armstrong said Verbruggen insisted "we've got to come up with something" to explain his positive tests for a banned corticosteroid. The UCI accepted Armstrong's backdated prescription for a cream to treat saddle sores, allowing him to stay in the race. He went on to win the first of his seven Tours.