UCI boss steps down from IOC duties

The fallout from the Lance Armstrong affair has forced cycling boss Pat McQuaid to step away from his International Olympic Committee duties.

McQuaid, who is president of cycling’s international governing body (the UCI) and represents Ireland at the IOC, was also a member of the 10-person commission evaluating bids to host the 2020 Olympic Games.

But McQuaid has been overwhelmed by events in the wake of Lance Armstrong’s admission that he used performance-enhancing drugs during all seven of his Tour de France victories. Armstrong was stripped of his titles by the UCI after the United States Anti-Doping Agency found Armstrong guilty of doping last year. Armstrong finally admitted his guilt in an interview with Oprah Winfrey last week.

“It’s quite simple,” McQuaid told the Associated Press. “I have too much going on and I can’t afford to be spending two weeks away from the office in March.”

Both McQuaid and former UCI president Hein Verbruggen have come under heavy criticism for overseeing cycling during an era in which Armstrong was able to cheat so easily—including allegations he was given special treatment. But there has been no proof of wrongdoing on their part. Fellow IOC members have been quick to say McQuaid is not under suspicion.

“He couldn’t meet the schedule and we had to find someone else,” IOC vice-president Craig Reedie, who chairs the evaluation commission, told the Associated Press. “That’s all. There’s nothing sensitive about it in any way.”

McQuaid has been replaced on the evaluation commission by international basketball federation secretary general Patrick Baumann.