McQuaid defends UCI over claims of corruption and ineptitude

Pat McQuaid, World Championships 2012

The Union Cycliste International's (UCI) President Pat McQuaid announced today in Geneva that it would strip Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France wins, but found himself defending his federation for the sport's ongoing doping problems.

"When I took over as president of the UCI in 2005, I made the fight against doping my priority, that still remains my priority. I admitted and acknowledged that cycling had a culture of doping and that I was intent on changing that culture of doping. Cycling has come a long way since then. There's a lot of evidence that culture of doping has changed or is changing. I was very comforted by the remarks this week by some people like Bradley Wiggins, Philippe Gilbert, David Millar, who testified to the fact that the culture within the peloton has changed."

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Gregor Brown

Gregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist, based in Florence, Italy. He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro, Tour de France, and every major race since 2006. His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX, before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season.