Belgian Johan Bruyneel’s long fight with anti-doping authorities came closer to an ending yesterday when he was given a 10-year-ban from the sport by the American Arbitration Association.
Belgian Johan Bruyneel was banned for 10 years from the sport for his role in the USPS doping ring. Photo: Tim De Waele
The United States Anti-Doping Agency investigated the Belgian for his ties to what it called the United States Postal Service team’s doping “conspiracy” that helped Lance Armstrong win seven straight Tours de France. Those results were later stripped.
A three-person panel found that “the evidence establishes conclusively that Mr. Bruyneel was at the apex of a conspiracy to commit widespread doping on the USPS and Discovery Channel teams spanning many years and many riders. Similarly, Dr. (Pedro) Celaya and Mr. (Jose ‘Pepe’) Martí were part of, or at least allowed themselves to be used as instruments of, that conspiracy.”
The Panel imposed a 10-year ban for Bruyneel and eight-year bans for Celaya and Martí. The panel found that Bruyneel trafficked performance-enhancing drugs and “was engaged in the allocation of team-related resources… causing a variety of prohibited doping substances and methods to be used expressly for the purpose of gaining an unfair advantage for the teams and cyclists he managed in cycling events.”
Bruyneel also “profited considerably from the successes of the teams and riders he managed during the relevant period,” according to a release from USADA. The full report from the AAA was released Tuesday.
Bruyneel responded on his personal website, taking aim at USADA’s jurisdiction over him but also admitting there were “elements” of his career he wished were different.
“I do not dispute that there are certain elements of my career that I wish had been different. Nor do I dispute that doping was a fact of life in the peloton for a considerable period of time. However, a very small minority of us has been used as scapegoats for an entire generation,” he wrote.
“There is clearly something wrong with a system that allows only six individuals to be punished as retribution for the sins of an era.” – Velo News
