Cycling Australia fires Matt White
- By Andrew Hood
- Published 41 mins ago
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The USADA investigation has claimed another victim.
Just hours after Omega Pharma-Quick Step sacked Levi Leipheimer for his admissions of past doping, ex-pro Matt White is also being cut loose in light of his own confessions.
White got the axe overnight by the Australian cycling federation from his part-time job as the men’s national team coordinator while Orica-GreenEdge management considers his role with the team.
Members of the Cycling Australia board, citing anti-doping policies within the federation’s rulebook, voted to remove White from the job of running the elite men’s team at international competition he’s held for the past two years.
“The admissions contained within his public statement of 13 October clearly place him in breach of the CA Anti-Doping Policy and Code of Conduct,” a statement read. “Accordingly, the Board has determined that his ongoing employment with CA is untenable and Matt was formally advised overnight of the termination of his contract.”
The board says the decision “reaffirms” its stance against doping, but it’s prompted strong reactions from some who think that riders coming forward now should be given more lenient treatment.
The Australian cycling federation also retreated on calls by its president, Klaus Mueller, for a sport-wide amnesty, saying it is “not consistent with CA’s strong anti-doping position.”
The federation also shot out at the UCI, with a strongly worded message saying the international federation was asleep at the wheel during the EPO era, but lauded it for its recent work in enforcing the biological passport.
“We acknowledge that there is now clear evidence that the UCI, until recent times, failed to fully and properly do its part to stamp out doping. We stand by our belief that the UCI deserves significant credit in a number of areas, namely its persistence in dealing with the Operation Puerto files and the ground-breaking introduction of the Biological Passport,” it said. “We believe there is also reasonable evidence to support the view that the current professional peloton is much ‘cleaner’ and fair competition is now taking
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