(Excerpt)
Scotland on Sunday
July 22, 2012, Sunday
Sport Edition
'They could have afforded any doctor but they went for one who was involved in one of the many scandals that have dogged this sport'
BYLINE: Tom English
SECTION: Pg. 28
"At the heart of this is Geert Leinders, Team Sky's doctor since the end of 2010. Previously with the Rabobank team, Leinders came under suspicion in May when former Rabobank team manager Theo de Rooy admitted that doping was tolerated on the team until 2007. It was a "deliberate decision by the medical staff," said De Rooy. Leinders was the chief doctor at the time and has admitted that when he was with the team, EPO was being used.
When Rabobank rider Michael Rasmussen was kicked off the 2007 Tour, the team fired de Rooy. Leinders left Rabobank in 2009. Having Leinders as part of Team Sky flies in the face of Sky's stated policy on doping. Why is he there and what does he do? And it's not just Leinders. Sean Yates, pictured, is Sky's sporting director and has questions to answer about his years as part of the same set-up as Lance Armstrong at the Motorola and Discovery teams. Also, Yates tested positive when he a bike rider.
Having set out with great intentions, can we have any faith in what Sky say anymore? David Brailsford, general manager at Sky, wants these questions to stop. It's uncomfortable for him. He has defended Leinders by saying that his work with Sky has been as pure as the driven snow but accepts that there could be reputational risk by having Leinders on the books.
This is the official story on Leinders and Sky. Brailsford says that the team employed him following widespread illnesses in the team in the 2010 Vuelta, plus the death from a virus of one of the soigneurs, Txema Gonzalez. "We had all these sick riders going: 'What is going on? This isn't good enough.' And you think: 'We're putting these guys at risk here.' We sat down afterwards and we said: 'We do not know enough about looking after people in extreme heat and extreme fatigue.'"
That was the catalyst for Leinders' arrival. "That's why we decided to go and get him. Has he been a good doctor? Brilliant. The guy really understands. It's not about doping, it's about genuine medical practice."