The Belgian cycling federation, the KBWB-RLVB, has suspended for now its investigation into former US Postal, Astana and RadioShack-Nissan team manager Johan Bruyneel, citing a “legal tangle.”
The organisation’s president, Tom Van Damme, confirmed the news to Belgian TV channel Sporza during an interview conducted in Louisville, Kentucky, which hosts the world cyclocross championships this weekend.
Bruyneel had reportedly indicated earlier this month that he was prepared to co-operate with the RLVB in its investigation. He had been due to appear before it yesterday, but that hearing did not take place.
The KBWB-RLVB, which has provisionally suspended Bruyneel’s licence, opened its case against him at the request of the UCI in 2010, after Floyd Landis went public with allegations against former US Postal staff including its former manager and Lance Armstrong.
The process is separate to the charges Bruyneel, who lives in London, faces from the United States Anti Doping Agency and which he has decided to fight through arbitration.
Originally, USADA said that the hearing on those charges would take place in November, but nearly three months on there is still no news over when it may be held. We asked USADA for a comment on the reasons for the delay and when the hearing might be held but a USADA spokesperson told us: "At this time we can’t comment on any ongoing cases."
Van Damme said that the lack of progress on the other side of the Atlantic hadn’t helped the situation.
“We look forward to the next step of USADA. First he [Bruyneel] would be called in November. Then it was December and now we are already in February."
During the interview, Van Damme reaffirmed the national federation's zero tolerance approach to doping but queried whether a truth and reconcilation to uncover past actions was in the best interests of the sport as it looks to move forward.
"You have to handle cases that you can still punish," he maintained.
Don't forget their insurance will double or even triple for the next few years....
I too wondered why Giant want to recruit 4 highly paid with bullshit-speak sales & marketing experience, not real hands-on R&D knowledge ...
100% agree, it's nothing to do with them, how public opinion is split.
Here in Southampton we just get long lines of cars queuing for cruise ships. ...
Whilst EV cars are an improvement over ICE cars, I think they're a distraction from the possibilities of e-bikes, e-scooters and e-cargo-bikes etc....
I like how drivers make the case for making monitoring covert, not overt.
She seemed a bit upset about a minor misjudgement that could have killed someone and is going to cause months of stress and inconvenience.
No we don't agree, personally I would take primary, even if only for a short period although I can understand why some riders might not want to...
And which looks very like the bag produced by indy bag manufacturer Wizard Works…...
The bit at the start and end looks like a cycle lane, but the bit they drive on looks just like a patched filter lane for traffic lights.