World cycling chief Pat McQuaid on Saturday called for World Anti Doping Agency president Dick Pound to be replaced for his “consistent but unjustified” attacks on cycling.
McQuaid, the president of the International Cycling Union (UCI) has been at odds with Pound in the past over the Canadian’s views that the UCI is not doing enough to combat doping in the sport.
However here at the world cycling championships McQuaid claimed the WADA chief’s outspoken views has led to a loss of credibility that should lead to his replacement.
“Mr. Pound has lost his credibility,” McQuaid told reporters. “He knows very well how much the UCI is doing to fight doping but continues to constantly criticize us instead of working with us. It’s an attitude I can’t understand.”
Irishman McQuaid added that he had addressed a letter to members of WADA, which was created in the wake of the Festina doping scandal at the drugs-tainted Tour de France in 1998, detailing his views on Pound.
Pound said after the last Tour de France, where American Floyd Landis tested positive for testosterone, that cycling’s bosses had ultimately failed to wipe out doping.
“Cycling has a tradition of doping, and is quite clearly incapable of getting rid of it,” said Pound last month.
In the wake of several doping affairs over the summer, which have yet to reach their legal climax, McQuaid is set to launch an ambitious audit of the sport.
He is currently looking into the possibility of riders being obliged to submit DNA samples. Coupled with physiological profiling of athletes, the move could prove a deterrent, and also prove useful in doping controls.
McQuaid added: “He (Pound) is just after publicity, and doesn’t stop attacking cycling. He is trying to kill off cycling. For the UCI, the sooner he is replaced the better. His attitude is just unacceptable.”
Agence France Presse