An Australian sports wear company is seeking US$2m in damages from cycling’s government body, claiming its brand has been damaged by the mismanagement of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.
Skins, which has backed cycling teams since 2008 and supplied the USA cycling team with race suits at the London Olympics, alleges Union Cycliste Internationale is responsible for a “total loss of confidence” in professional cycling that has harmed its brand.
“Skins was under the illusion that professional cycling had been fundamentally reformed to contain doping and minimize the risk of scandals with which the brand of any sponsor could be associated,” the company said in a letter sent to UCI.
Armstrong was banned for life and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after the US Anti-Doping Agency published a report claiming the US cyclist had used performance enhancing drugs.
The move by Skins to seek damages raises the possibility that other sportswear companies might also launch action against UCI.
Armstrong’s biggest sponsors severed ties with the former professional cyclist soon after the allegation emerged that he was at the center of the “most sophisticated and successful doping program that sport has ever seen”. Nike, Trek, RadioShack and AB InBev have all dropped sponsorship ties.
Jaimie Fuller, Skins chairman, said an “overhaul” of cycling could only be achieved by a “credible and capable” governing body and called on UCI President Pat McQuaid and Honorary President for Life Hein Verbruggen to step down.
The UCI has set up an independent commission into itself and ordered Armstrong to return the prize money he received for his seven Tour de France titles. It is seeking to recover up to $3m.
Mr McQuaid recently denied allegations that the governing body accepted a donation from Armstrong in return for overlooking a positive test.
from Financial Times
