Ex-WADA head Pound slams UCI drug testing

LOS ANGELES — Cycling's governing body set up a drug testing system that was designed to fail and allow Lance Armstrong and other riders to avoid detection, said the ex-boss of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Doping officials knowingly ran a testing regimen that the sport's top teams circumvented and where competitors would be tipped off in advance, Richard Pound, who headed up WADA between 1999 and 2007, told AFP in an interview.

Despite alleging eight years ago that cheating was rife, his complaints to the UCI (International Cycling Union) about the sport's anti-doping measures were repeatedly ignored, Pound said.

"It is not credible that they didn't know this was going on," Pound said. "I had been complaining to UCI for years. They come in in the morning at 5.00 a.m. and do tests then go away, and riders are not chaperoned."

"The race starts at 1.00 p.m. to 2.00 p.m. in the afternoon and there are no tests prior to race to see if they are bumped up," he said, adding that after a day in the saddle, riders would be unchaperoned for an hour before being tested again.

"So then you go in and get saline solutions and other means of hiding the effects (of performance-enhancing drugs) EPO and whatever else it is."

"You have to say 'I wonder if it was designed not to be successful?' " Pound said of the system, lambasting the UCI, which is under attack in the wake of a devastating U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) report on Armstrong.

The report, which was released Wednesday, detailed Armstrong's alleged use of testosterone, human growth hormone, blood doping and EPO and included sworn statements from 26 people, including 11 former teammates.

The sports agency, which had already stripped the cyclist of his seven Tour de France titles, said Armstrong orchestrated the most complex doping scheme in sports history.

"If they persist with denial then they put their whole sport in jeopardy," Pound said, noting that doping investigations may spread to the Spanish and Italian professional cycling communities, among others.

UCI president Pat McQuaid argued earlier this week that the sport "has moved on" and better tests mean riders are now much cleaner than in the previous era, in which Armstrong, now 41, competed.

"The peloton today is completely different," McQuaid said.

Pound, in reference to the USADA report, said he was dismayed by the scope and vivid details of the alleged doping practices by Armstrong and his U.S. Postal Service teammates.

"I thought it was a very thoroughly researched report with evidence sworn or otherwise," said Pound, who remains on WADA's 38-member Foundation Board.

Armstrong has always maintained that he did not use banned substances during his career, but in August he chose not to contest USADA's charges.

The Texan rider's days of sparing no expense to hire big-ticket lawyers to muzzle critics may also be coming to an end, Pound suggested.

"I don't think it is credible for Armstrong to say 'all 26 of these people are liars and cheats and axe grinders,' " the former WADA president said in reference to the sworn statements in the USADA dossier.

"I am afraid his time has just run out on that.

"What is going to be a surprise is (if) after all this, Lance persists in saying he never did it. You got to hope he will . . . admit 'I was the best of the worst.'"

Pound said cancer survivor Armstrong should also speak out against the use of performance-enhancing drugs, not just for himself but his five children.

"What are his kids going to think of him? They are going to carry around this burden," said Pound, while stating that many Armstrong supporters, especially in the United States, are still likely to dismiss the allegations.

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Lawrie slams behavior of lively Medinah crowd

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Paul Lawrie wasn't just battling Brandt Snedeker as Europe won the Ryder Cup. He also had to contend with the Medinah crowd.

Lawrie, the oldest player on either team at 43, lost his opening fourballs match Saturday before beating Snedeker by 5-and-3 in the biggest singles victory on Sunday. But the Scot was unhappy at the behavior of the Chicago gallery, and said captain Jose Maria Olazabal dealt with the issue in meetings at the start of last week.

"I didn't get abused, but you get comments like: 'Top it! Shank it! You're going to lose.' Stuff like that on every shot you play," Lawrie said Wednesday. "Every single shot you hit last week, that's what you get. So apparently that's how it is."

"Jose Maria made it clear — don't even look at them, don't take them on. Certainly don't react. Don't make on as though it's hurting us. Just hit your shot and walk on. It's pretty tough when someone is screaming and blowing in your ear that you're a loser. But there's not much you can do. Which makes it all the more satisfying on Sunday night when you're standing there with the Ryder Cup in front of you and they are not."

Lawrie said it had happened to him before in the United States, but that Europe's fans could be just as bad.

"That was the same the last time I played in the Ryder Cup in '99, and I think they (U.S. team) said it's the same when they come here," Lawrie said.

Europe retained the cup by winning 14?-13? after starting the final day with a 10-6 deficit.

Lawrie, who joins teammates Martin Kaymer and Peter Hanson at the Dunhill Links Championship this week in St. Andrews, has been installed at 16/1 by British bookmaker William Hill to lead Europe in 2014 at Gleneagles. Paul McGinley is the 11/10 favorite.

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Djokovic slams Madrid Open clay

MADRID — Novak Djokovic needed three sets to win his first match on the blue clay at the Madrid Open on Tuesday, and then stepped up his criticism of the new surface.

Djokovic labored to a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain in his debut on the Magic Box's unorthodox surface, after top-ranked Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova both beat Czech opponents to advance in the women's event.

Djokovic, who had already voiced his opposition to the blue clay, was left fuming over the condition of center court, which he said was completely different to the practice courts he trained on before the event.

"To me that's not tennis. Either I come out with football shoes or I invite Chuck Norris to advise me how to play on this court," said Djokovic, who like Rafael Nadal has been critical of the new-look surface. "Center court is impossible to move on. I hit five balls throughout the whole match. With everything else, I was just trying to keep the ball in the court."

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