Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel face the press(Image credit: Steve Medcroft)
Johan Bruyneel faces the media(Image credit: Steve Medcroft)
According to Luxemburg media RTL, the future of current RadioShack-Nissan team manager Johan Bruyneel could be decided as soon as today. The news outlet reported that "it is possible that the former boss of Lance Armstrong will be sacked."
Bruyneel, who was managing Lance Armstrong's teams throughout the height of his career, has been accused by the USADA report of playing an active part in the doping schemes that allowed the Texan to win seven Tours de France. The Belgian Cycling federation is currently investigating the charges put forward by USADA, and could hand Bruyneel a lifetime ban.
USADA's reasoned decision in the Armstrong case, issued on Wednesday, described Bruyneel as a key player in the organized doping which took place at the US Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams. Bruyneel has constantly denied such charges. Neither he nor his current team, RadioShack-Nissan, have yet commented on the USADA report.
The overwhelming evidence in this case is that Johan Bruyneel was intimately involved in all significant details of the U.S. Postal team’s doping program. "He alerted the team to the likely presence of testers. He communicated with Dr. Ferrari about his stars’ doping programs," the document said.
"He was on top of the details for organizing blood transfusion programs before the major Tours, and he knew when athletes needed to take EPO to regenerate their blood supply after extracting blood. He was present when blood transfusions were given. He even personally provided drugs to the riders on occasion."
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