Report slams cycling officials for allowing doping, Armstrong to win

Cycling officials let doping flourish and broke their own rules so Lance Armstrong could cheat his way to becoming the superstar the sport badly needed, according to a scathing report into its drug culture.

The International Cycling Union (ICU) was severely criticized for failing to act during the doping era dominated by Armstrong, but the 227-page report (PDF) the governing body released early Monday found no evidence that he paid to cover up alleged positive tests.

The report was commissioned by the new UCI leadership to investigate doping that shredded cycling's credibility and led to Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles in 2012. He banned for life from racing in 2012 after a U.S. Anti-Doping investigation (USADA) and he later admitted in a television interview using performance-enhancing drugs during his championship run.

While the year-long probe turned up no major revelations, and found no proof that a payment Armstrong made to the UCI was to cover up a positive test, it suggested doping is still rife in top-level road cycling.

Still, the UCI hopes publishing the report can help turn the page on the doping era and instill confidence that cycling is serious about stamping out cheating.

The UCI's lack of will to curb Armstrong and other riders in an era "infested" with use of the blood-boosting hormone EPO is made clear in the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) report.

"Going after the cheaters was perceived as a witch-hunt that would be detrimental to the image of cycling," the panel of three investigators concluded.

Former UCI presidents Hein Verbruggen and Pat McQuaid are described respectively as "autocratic" and "weak" leaders who undermined anti-doping efforts.

The report confirmed that the first of Armstrong's seven straight titles in 1999 was possible only because the UCI accepted a back-dated prescription for corticosteroids to explain positive tests during the race.

Armstrong was among 174 witnesses from across the sport interviewed by the panel.

The report said many riders believe doping is still widespread as athletes adapt to evade new tests and detection methods.

"A common response to the Commission, when asked about teams, was that probably 3 or 4 were clean, 3 or 4 were doping, and the rest were a 'don’t know'," the report added.

But teams are no longer setting up elaborate doping programs, the report found.

"There has been a move away from systematic, team organized doping, and that riders now organize their own doping programs, often with the help of third parties who are primarily based outside the teams," it said.

However, clean riders today have a chance of being competitive. The micro doses of doping products now used, the report said, boost performance. However, "The influence on performance is however much less important."

The report noted that Verbruggen, "with his business experience" as a marketing executive, saw the potential appeal of Armstrong returning as a cancer survivor to cycling after scandal blighted the 1998 Tour.

"UCI saw Lance Armstrong as the perfect choice to lead the sport's renaissance," the report said, adding, "the fact that he was American opened up a new continent for the sport."

Despite the close relationship, the panel said it found no evidence of corruption in Armstrong's payments to the UCI totaling $125,000, allegedly to cover up his suspicious samples for EPO at the 2001 Tour de Suisse and 1999 Tour de France.

"I am grateful to CIRC for seeking the truth and allowing me to assist in that search. I am deeply sorry for many things I have done," Armstrong said in a statement. 

Armstrong is trying to overturn a life ban imposed by the USADA. 

Armstrong's attorney, Elliot Peters, said Armstrong "cooperated fully" with senior investigators over two days, answering all questions "without any restrictions" and providing "all documents requested to which he had access."

Wire services