The Chairman of a Swiss-based performance sportswear company, Skins Compression, has written an open letter to the President of Union Cycliste Internationale, (UCI) Pat McQuaid, demanding McQuaid either acts immediately or resigns in order to protect the future of world cycling and its commercial partners in the wake of the Lance Armstrong drugs debacle.
In his letter, Jaimie Fuller, Chairman of the world leading therapeutic compression company that partners with six cycling teams and organisations across the world and which provided the high tech race suits to the gold medal winning USA Cycling team for the London Olympics, says, “The Lance Armstrong scandal has exposed the sport to an embarrassing level of global disrepute. In short, world cycling is in a mess and as President of the UCI, you and those of your colleagues charged with its executive management, must act now to restore confidence in world cycling or withdraw from office.”
Fuller believes the UCI needs to ensure Armstrong delivers full closure on the evidence contained in the 1,000-page United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) report which outlines a culture of drug-related activities focused around Armstrong. So far, Armstrong has refused to answer the charges made by USADA and Fuller believes that in the absence of a confession, Armstrong must face his accusers if world cycling is to have any chance of repairing its damaged reputation.
Fuller says, “As President, you must move immediately to repair damage that, if left to suffer further inertia from the highest office, will be impossible to rectify.”
The letter, which has also been published on Skins' official website, via Skins social media outlets and distributed to associates around the world, also raises the question of the potential involvement of UCI officials in a cover-up to protect Armstrong from positive drugs tests in the past. Fuller insists that if answers cannot be given; “with a clear conscience” immediate changes must be made to save the sport.
Fuller's motivation for the letter and its open publication reflects a deep personal and commercial interest in a clean, drugs-free cycling and concern for its future prosperity.
“Apart from being a genuine cycling fan and an avid believer in integrity in all sport, I'm genuinely sad to see cycling dragged through the mud by a fallen hero and an organisation with at best, inertia at the centre of its culture.” Fuller goes on to state that, “The UCI has some serious questions to answer and a massive reparation job ahead of it. As a fan and also as Chairman of a commercial partner of cycling teams and organisations around the world, it is absolutely vital that we see action that will clean out this tragic mess and restore a level of confidence in the sport's future strength.
“What happens if commercial partners start taking legal recourse to claw back contractual payments they've made on the basis of wins gained through systemic fraudulent performance? The whole thing will implode in no time with the potential collapse of cycling. At the moment, I see no light at the end of the tunnel and its time the UCI started switching on a few lights.”
