October 26, 2012 (Manchester, UK) – Race director, Bobby Julich, has left British-based Team Sky. This follows a recent confession by the American that he used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) during his racing career reports The Independent. The WorldTour team is asking all of its riders and personnel to sign a document attesting that they have never used PEDs.

Julich, now 40, began his professional career in 1992 according to Wikipedia, and rode for Spago, Chevrolet, Motorola, Cofidis, Crédit Agricole, Team Telekom, and Team CSC before retiring in 2008. His accolades include winning silver at the 2004 Olympics, Paris–Nice (2005) and the Eneco Tour of Benelux (2005) as well as stage wins at the TdF and Giro. At the 1998 TdF, Julich finished third behind winner Marco Pantani and runner-up Jan Ullrich.

Team principal, Dave Brailsford, indicated that it might be a while before all those connected with the team sign, “confirming they have no past or present involvement in doping.” Brailsford is also unsure how many others might eventually have to leave. Jonathan Vaughters, a former teammate of Julich’s and now manager of the Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda team, criticizes Sky’s policy on this, claiming that forcing people to sign the document is “chasing ghosts from the past” rather than ensuring team members do not dope.

Vaughters admitted this summer to doping while he rode with U.S. Postal and his affidavit was part of USADA’s “reasoned decision” to strip Lance Armstrong’s TdF titles.

Read the Independent article HERE.
Similar article (en français) HERE.