English is THE language for saying mean stuff about UCI?

[I Watch Cycling In July]

Thinking through the astonishing list of people to directly question the credibility of the UCI leadership....I notice all the statements are in English. Is it only English speaking media reporting asking the questions and reporting the lack of confidence in UCI leadership, or are other people saying the same things elsewhere?

Examples below, but most of y'all know them all already.

In March 2012, the professional team association (AIGCP) unanimously agreed that its members have no confidence in the current leadership of cycling's governing body.

Michael Ashenden September 2012
“Yet again, a member of the cycling fraternity had confided to me a shocking anecdote, this time calling into question the integrity of cycling’s overlords…I know the cycling fraternity are afraid to speak out, because I witnessed it myself yesterday. Omerta is alive and well in September 2012… It was an epiphany for me to contemplate that grotesque realisation. I think omerta’s presence is a truly disgraceful indictment on the stewardship of the sport’s governing body.”

“Despite the self-serving data bending and associated propaganda to the contrary, I am led to believe that there are pockets of organised, highly sophisticated dopers even within ‘new age’ cycling teams. Personally, I don’t accept that the ‘dark era’ has ended, it has just morphed into a new guise.”

Sylvia Schenk, September 2012
“There is a big effort needed in this historic situation in cycling to really change the sport. I doubt that McQuaid has the credibility to lead the reform that is needed”…From my point of view it was a mistake to elect him. They voted for continuity, as McQuaid was promoted by Verbruggen, but real change needs a change of the responsible persons, too.”

"Cycling, that's the UCI and the Tour de France, they're at a very important point in their history and it's about whether they try to go on as before with the people they've elected and keep hoping they can get off with it or whether they really are going to start with zero-tolerance, make fundamental changes to the culture of cycling, for example bringing in transparency and accountability, and implement all steps needed for a comprehensive anti-doping system…That's what should happen. It will take a big effort and I don't know whether the people in charge have the energy and the credibility to do that."

David Millar September 2012
“They’re going down the line that they did everything they could within the system, when we all know it was easy to beat the system. I was one of the people who easily beat the system,” … “The reason the UCI brought in a hematocrit limit in 1997, my first year as a pro, because they knew (EPO) was rife within the sport, yet they denied it publicly, and they allowed certain team managers and doctors remain in the sport, and almost helped them.”
Millar asked McQuaid directly if the UCI should take more responsibility for what happened during the EPO era. “I don’t think so. I don’t see why we should be apologetic...“UCI is not to blame for the culture of doping in the sport.”
Millar later insisted that cycling would be better off if the UCI acknowledged its own errors. “If it is apparent there was a black period, I think it’s time for the UCI to say, ‘maybe we didn’t do everything we could have done, and we’re sorry for that.’ … “I think (former UCI president) Hein Verbruggen has a lot to answer for… He was at the helm when this got to its worse….Hein Verbruggen seems to be pretending that nothing ever happened and it would be very annoying that he would never apologize for what happened… It doesn’t give them (UCI) any credibility…

Scott Mercier October 2012
The world has come to accept that cycling has had a dark history with respect to doping, but the UCI refuses to acknowledge any responsibility…. The lack of comment from most of the peloton regarding the Armstrong saga suggests that the omertà is alive and well and that the peloton is still ruled by fear…. It’s time for a revolution and the overthrow of the tyrannical leadership of McQuaid and Verbruggen. I urge the board members of the UCI to take control of the sport and start with a clean slate. It is the only way cycling can truly grow globally.

Richard Pound October 12
“So many of the people involved in cycling, including Verbruggen and Armstrong and so on have resorted to the institution of legal proceedings. Not so much to collect money, but to stiffle any dissent or opposition”…

“…I think now the way the public is looking at UCI officials past and present, there is a real onus upon them to demonstrate that one era has come to an end and it is going to be new going forward.”…”I think there has to be a real demonstration, not just by words but by conduct, that there has indeed been change”

Need to add Lemond's latest interview to the list too, ...

 

[Ferminal]

Hardie in El Pais (2011)?

Probably a bit of stuff in Germany too, who seem the least afraid of all to look at doping bluntly.

 

[Robert21]

Over the years the French media has probably carried more exposes of doping in cycling than any other, and in turn has frequently highlighted the complicity of the UCI and its associates. One good example was the interview that Manzano did for L'Equipe, where he said that the owner of the lab that did blood testing for the UCI used to tip off USP when a test was about to be done. This particular revelation was missed out of almost every report of the interview in the English speaking media.

There was also shed loads of criticism of the UCI in the French media when they took steps to ban the French authorities from doing drug tests at the Tour when Armstrong made his comeback.

Just try doing an advanced Google search for "UCI" and "corruption" so as to return only French language results! The same result would probably result for most other languages.

Perhaps the real issue here is that English speakers don't tend to be aware of what is published in other languages.

I also think that it is probable that the statements of people like Schenk were originally made in their native languages.

 

[ValleyFlowers]

Differences in language are no barrier to similar thoughts about UCI.
It's more likely that other language news reports often get overlooked in English news outlets and forums.
Example: Doping-Experte Franke nennt UCI "korrupten Haufen"


Here is one example from a few years back that wasn't overlooked.
Pitallier concerned about corruption from October 5, 2007
"French cycling federation (FFC) president Jean Pitallier has had some outspoken words on corruption during the UCI Congress in Stuttgart last week.
The 70 year-old alleged fraudulent practices within the International Cycling Union (UCI), and said that these were even more dangerous to cycling than the doping problem. "If doping is a real threat to our sport, I think that there are even more dangerous issues threatening us," said Pitallier, who believes that former UCI president Hein Verbruggen is still pulling the strings at the governing body. "I want to speak about money-making and corruption, which are actually not without link to doping. I personally have the greatest concerns about the way in which the ProTour has been created and organised by the UCI." ...

 

[Tinman]

Need to add Lemond's latest interview to the list too, ...

Depends how far back you want to go. Can go way back, maybe even 1998 around Festina times. Can quote Clerk, Lemond, Kimmage, Pound, Schenk, etc from those early days already.

One very relevant point is that the UCI criticism is not new, it's much more substantial and timely with 2013 election coming and the sport continuing to go down the gurgler. And the key issue is that the current leadership have just not done a sufficient job to vote them back in next year to lead cycling into the future...

 

[trailrunner]

The French and German media have been outspoken about doping. When the French press first started publishing reports about Armstrong's doping, one of of Armstrong's defenses was to say that the French were just whining because they didn't have any French contenders for their national race. Back in those days, the US media didn't want to be critical because LA was a great American hero, and there was no way a magazine like Buycycling was going to dig deep into his story. What you're seeing now is that the tide has turned against Armstrong, and the english speaking media have finally realized the truth, and are now going after him. They're just late to the party, that's all.

 

[Robert21]

T Back in those days, the US media didn't want to be critical because LA was a great American hero, and there was no way a magazine like Buycycling was going to dig deep into his story.

It was the same story with Velonews, who printed a transcript of the interview Manzano gave to L'Equipe. They missed out one key sentence. The one in bold...

http://velonews.com/article/12375

Posted Jun. 7, 2007

More Manzano missiles

Manzano also accused the Spanish cycling community from being “corrupt top to bottom,” leveling charges that a Spanish lab certified by the UCI tipped off teams when doctors were coming for pre-stage blood screenings.

“I want to give you an example, something I’ve never spoken about except to the police up until now. It concerns one of the four Spanish Laboratories credited by the UCI. This laboratory, which is in charge of sending the UCI ‘vampires’ to take the samples during the Vuelta and other races, is the same lab that’s in charge of the doctor visits to the cyclists, they follow the cyclists and give them the stamp of approval on their licenses,” Manzano told L’Equipe. “The owner of this clinic, a renowned hematologist, called Walter Viru, who is one of the doctors for Kelme, to alert them the day before the UCI vampires were coming to take the samples from the cyclists. And he did the same thing with Del Moral, the doctor for the U.S. Postal team and then Discovery, a good friend of his."

I see that the whole article has new been deleted from the Velonews site. There are also plenty of books concerning doping that have only been published in the original French, the best known probably being L. A. Confidentiel.

It is also interesting just how little impact books like From Lance to Landis made in the US. I recall that at one time it wasn't even in the top 50,000 books on Amazon.com, whilst at the same time It's not about the bike was in the top 100. Even now the Armstrong hagiography sells more copies than Walsh's book.