Canadians agree to investigate Barry

The Canadian Cycling Association said that it has received the International Cycling Union's request to investigate Michael Barry. The Team Sky rider was named in Floyd Landis' recent allegations of doping.

Barry has denied any involvement in doping, and the Association made it clear that it believes him. “First of all, we’re very strong believers in Michael Barry,” said Greg Mathieu, the CCA's executive director, to the Toronto Star newspaper. “We’re all about racing clean and we want the world to race clean and make sure all athletes have the same opportunity to win.”

Mathieu said that despite that, his organisation was forced to look into the situation. The investigation would probably be carried out by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport. That is an independent organisation which carries out the nation's anti-doping programme.

In the recent emails, Landis claimed that Barry and another teammate shared testosterone and EPO with him while training for the 2003 Vuelta a Espana.

“There’s no analytical basis for us to investigate in this instance where we can prove in any way, shape or form whether or not an athlete is guilty,” said Mathieu. “There’s two people involved and neither is corroborating what the other is saying. We’re going to have a problem following it as far as we can.”