Vin Cox resigns from British Cycling over David Millar role

kevinmorice wrote:

Carton wrote:

grahamTDF wrote:

mags wrote:

I'm with Vin. There are very many athletes better suited to the role of mentor to our youngsters.

Who else with experiance of racing at the very top level is in the queue to work with our youngsters?

Nicole Cooke comes to mind. 

 

I would object equally to her, although it would be less likely to garner support. She has repeatedly said that she was invited to dope but refuses to name names. Her silence makes her equally guilty or perpetuating doping in the sport. 

Hi Kevin - I'm Nicole's father.  Perhaps you can identify quite where you sourced the information on what Nicole did and did not do ?  You seem sure of your account.  You must have heard it from soemwhere.

A lunatic might think that a clean rider might be quiet when they were offered drugs and then had their wages stopped by their team.  That is what had happened to her.  Nicole was not quiet.  She made inquiries on how to progress her information in Italy and she together with myself opted for informing the organisation that was the predecessor of UK AD which was called "Drug Free Sport" and it was part of UK Sport.  I travelled to London to represent Nicole (she was riding in Italy) and the information she had.  There I met with the Director and a minute taker for him.  I did not hold back on any information.  I was informed that there was nothing Drug Free Sport could do.  Cycling at that time, 2002, had not signed up to the WADA code and so activity in Italy provided no collective reference point to an overarching body.  Further, the team Nicole rode for was not resistered in Italy, even though it based itself there and as such the Italian anti doping agency had no powers whatsoever to conduct action against it apart from when enegaged in actual competitions in Italy.  Given the workload of the Italian Federation dealing with matters within its own jurisdiction - it was at that time, in the view of the UK Director, overloaded, there would be nothing they could do and so he had no intention of passing any information to the Italian anti-doping agency.  The Director thought it even more unlikely that an appeal to the anti-doping agency of the country of registration of the team would ellicit any action and again he was not going to attempt to communicate.   As I stated to Nicole on my return, nothing in sport had disapppointed me more than the reception her informatin receved at that time.

What neither Nicole or Drug Free Sport were aware of was that the Italian Police were engaged in robust activity including tapping the phone of the the gentleman in question.  Later that year they made their move and 27 were caught up in their net including 6 male and 3 female riders.  That particualr doping ring was broken.  None of the sporting bodies contribbuted one iota to that achievement.

Nicole was 19 at the time of all this.

Throughout her caree Nicole paid a heavy price for speaking out. again and again  You might care to read about the events of those times and take an opion of how others, engaged in doping practises might view her.  

She is happy to walk away with her head held high.

What I and her modest band of supporters  find gauling is that having paid the price once for her determined stand, now others, mis-informed and mis-guided seek to heap more injury on her.  

Rather than amplfy nonesense, can I suggest that anyone who wants to find out more about Nicole's career might borrow her book from the library. Chapter 22 "exposing the drug cheats" would be useful in this context.  Sadly the legal department of the publishers were cautious about this section and as published, I believe it is about 1/4 of what she wrote in draft form.  However I think it will give you most of what you need to know

As to whether David Millar might be the best individual to cousel youngsters about the inequities of PED use, we might all have opinions.  Only one opinion really counts, that of Shane Sutton and he clearly thinks David is the best person for the job.  

Tony

amawby wrote:

Given the above photo, someone should give Vin Cox some guidance about how to fit his helmet.

He's riding round the world, no f**ks given, not a single one.