January 9, 2007 – Pat McQuaid, President of the UCI, made comments last Friday at a reception which were aired by a Dutch television chain that amount to quasi-racism, charges French website www.sports.fr. McQuaid’s remarks suggest that doping is a European problem rather than an Anglo-Saxon one.

“There exists today a schism between two cultures. The Anglo-Saxon culture and what I call the mafia-like culture of western Europe (sports.fr assumes this refers to Belgium, France, Italy, and Spain). This western European culture, in a certain way, I wouldn’t say that it condones doping, but it accepts certain practices. The Anglo-Saxon culture, which includes Holland, Germany, England and Denmark, functions in a totally different manner. I believe that it is important that the Anglo-Saxon vision must carry the day. If this is not the case, cycling is dead, ” said McQuaid.

The French website points out that many notable ongoing doping scandals implicate Anglo Saxon cyclists and teams. These include American cyclists such as: Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis, and Tyler Hamilton; German cyclist Jan Ullrich; British cyclist David Millar; Danish cyclist, Jesper Skibby, Dutch team TVM; and Danish team CSC.

Click here here for more info on the history of the Anglo Saxons according to Wikipedia.