British Cycling president Brian Cookson said he would expect honorary president of the UCI Hein Verbruggen to testify in any future inquiry to be held into cycling’s murky doping past.
“No one is above and beyond any involvement in that process,” said Cookson, who is bidding to replace Irishman Pat McQuaid as president of the sport’s world governing body.
Cookson admitted there was a “perception” held by “many riders, the media and the public” that the UCI turned a blind eye to positive tests by the American during his 1999-2005 Tour reign. The 62-year-old said those allegations had to be settled if the sport was to move on successfully and pledged to do so “within my first six months” if elected.
“We haven’t yet got to the bottom of those allegations … and we need to have an independent, forensic examination of that era and need to conclude that very quickly,” he said.
Cookson added he would welcome an inquiry similar to the Mitchell Report, a 21-month investigation into widespread doping in the Major League Baseball.
“That’s the kind of in-depth independent inquiry that I would like to see,” said Cookson.
Any such inquiry could implicate Verbruggen, who held the UCI presidency until 2005 — when Armstrong won his seventh and last yellow jersey.
Both Verbruggen and McQuaid have already denied accusations of cover-ups.
“Not only would this never have been allowed, but there simply was nothing to cover up. Armstrong, nor his teammates, never tested positive,” Verbruggen said in February.
But Cookson said no one, including Verbruggen, should be beyond giving testimony.
“If we have an inquiry into what happened into the past, then those people who were involved at that time were involved, and will have to be involved in that,” he said. “I would imagine at some point we would have to hear what Hein has to say. Let’s take it in due course.”
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