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Another scandal has hit cycling’s pariah number one, Lance Armstrong, as the ABC’s Four Corners programme last night aired allegations Armstrong bribed opponents to let him win races and claim victory bonuses.
On one hand it’s yet another kick in the chamois for cycling fans trying to move on and focus on the present-day racing, and for poor struggling cycling writers forced to continually dissect Lance’s misdeeds and watch the comments fire in like spitballs dipped in acid.
On the other hand, it’s yet more of the same old thing: we already know Lance was prepared to do anything to win, so what’s new?
Well, race fixing might just be another awkward conversation everyone knows we have to have. For mine, Four Corners missed out on the asking the real question: how prevalent was and is race fixing in cycling and, if it is common, how do we stamp it out?
Armstrong’s alleged bribery was mentioned in October 2012 in connection with Roar contributor Phil Anderson, who was a teammate of Armstrong’s for a time in the early 90’s. Another teammate, Steven Swart, claims Armstrong offered opponents $50,000 to let him win, and that Anderson witnessed this.
Anderson denied any knowledge of an offer to fix races. On Four Corners, Frankie Andreu alleged that Armstrong in fact paid some Italian riders to let him win the Triple Crown, and claim the $1 million prize money.
These are old allegations (Swart made them in 2006) but they’ve resurfaced because, let’s face it, it’s pretty popular to give Lance a kicking at the moment, and some of the many, many enemies he’s made in the past are now taking their revenge wearing the knuckle-dusters of renewed credibility.
The mainstream media, of course, is happy to help.
The Armstrong allegations, lurid though they are, can easily be passed off as old news, and crimes committed by an acknowledged villain. He’s already been thrown under the proverbial bus.
The problem for the UCI is that we actually have a more recent example of alleged race fixing that hasn’t been resolved: Alexandre Vinokourov has been the subject of an investigation by the UCI and Italian police for rigging the 2010 Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic.
‘Vino’, who has also served a doping ban, is said to have paid his breakaway companion Alexandr Kolobnev €150,000 to, shall we say, ease up in the sprint finish.
Given what we know about money, corruption and greed in cycling, it wouldn’t be surprising if more examples sprung up like toadstools.
This being the blundering arse-coverers at the UCI, don’t hold your breath for any rapid action or forensic investigation. The current investigation has been on-going since December 2011.
It’s not hard to see why it’s taking so long: another serious scandal would be enough to tip the UCI’s credibility levels from ‘Marie Antoinette’s views on social justice’ into ‘crystal meth addicts discussing Sartre’ territory.
Of course, the usual obfuscation and inaction is now having the same effect.
No doubt if an alleged race fixing incident was confirmed, Pat McQuaid would come and mouth the usual platitudes about it being an isolated incident, him doing his best to clean up the sport, ask how the UCI could have known, and beat his breast and wail about how the UCI is the victim in all of this.
But if cycling is shown to have a genuine problem with both race fixing and doping, surely even Pat the Survivor would have to admit he’s finished.
Another major cycling scandal would be enough to send sponsors rushing for the exits faster than Armstrong’s former teammate Paolo Savoldelli down an Alpine pass. The buck stops at the top.
Of course cycling would not be the only sport to have problems with result fixing. It’s plagued cricket for years; the AFL has encouraged teams to tank through its priority draft pick system; the Taiwanese and Korean baseball leagues have suffered recent fixing scandals.
The Black Sox defined it. Soccer. Horse racing. Sumo wrestling. Athletics. Even Olympic badminton. The list is nearly as long as the list of sports.
But cycling is already on its knees. It can’t afford to become a byword for race fixing the same way it has for doping. The UCI, knowing this, will probably try its best to cover it up and preserve its own existence and hope this all blows over.
If the Vinokourov allegations have substance, it won’t blow over. The UCI will be responsible for yet another mismanaged scandal and even more derision.
Would it finish professional road cycling? No. Cycling is bigger than its feeble and self-serving governing body. But if there’s anything at all to these latest allegations they must be dealt with openly. If that means the UCI has to fall, then so be it.
A race fixing scandal could finally provide the catalyst for a much-needed change at the top of the sport. It wouldn’t finish cycling, but it might finish McQuaid.
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