The Belgian Johan Bruyneel, former sports director of the fallen star of cycling Lance Armstrong, was on Wednesday suspended for life from any sports activity by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for its role in the doping system put in place. place around the former leader of the US Postal and Discovery Channel teams.
Bruyneel, an accomplice of Armstrong when the American won his seven consecutive victories in the Tour de France (1999-2005), which was withdrawn after his fall for doping, had received in 2012 a ten-year suspension by the American Arbitration Association which pronounces sanctions in doping cases.
The World Anti-Doping Agency had appealed this sanction and requested a suspension for life. In its judgment, the CAS states that "it saw no reason why this sanction (for life) was not pronounced in this case because of the active involvement of Mr. Bruyneel in the systematic doping in cycling over several years "
The CAS also increased the penalties for two Spanish accomplices of Bruyneel and Armstrong, a doctor Pedro Celaya Lemaza, and a healer, Pepe Marti, respectively suspended for life and for fifteen years. In an open letter published on his Twitter account, Bruyneel "recognized and completely accepted the many mistakes made in the past" .
"There are many things I would like to do differently and there are some things that I deeply regret. The time I lived as a runner and then as a sports director was very different from what is happening now, " he explained.
"Help my sport"
"We were all children of our time against the traps and temptations that were part of the culture of that time, we did not always make the right decisions," defended Bruyneel, 54.
The one who won during his racing career, under the leadership of the sultry Manolo Saiz two stages in the Tour de France and wore for a day the famous yellow jersey, however had to settle his accounts with USADA, the agency anti-doping that brought him down with Armstrong in 2012.
"Despite the decision of the CAS, I strongly maintain my position that the USADA has no legal authority over me (...) and in fact has no power to initiate proceedings against me and therefore can not suspend me , "he said.
And Bruyneel concludes incomprehensibly with regard to his suspension: "My goal and my desire are always to contribute and help my sport to grow and make it better in the years to come" .
WADA has welcomed the decision of the CAS by its managing director Olivier Niggli: "The sanctions imposed by the AAA were not strong enough and we were demanding more in the name of clean sport and to protect cycling" . USADA boss Travis Tygart, behind the fall of the Armstrong system, recalled that "hard work had to be done to bring the truth to fruition" .
"Our role is to seek justice even when the road is long and exposed to winds, because that's exactly what clean athletes expect from us and deserve," he noted, while regretting that Bruyneel and his accomplices "had pulled out all the possible strings to avoid the truth" .
"This is another powerful example of how important it is to respect the rules and that doping is never justified and always inexcusable," Tygart concluded.