Cycling Australia sacks Matt White

17 Oct 2012, 7:50 pm   -   Source: AAP
Matt White has been sacked by Cycling Australia after he admitted to being a drug cheat. (AAP)

Matt White has been sacked by Cycling Australia after he admitted to being a drug cheat. (AAP)

The Cycling Australia board has sacked confessed drug cheat Matt White.

Matt White has been sacked as men's road co-ordinator by Cycling Australia (CA) after he admitted to doping during his time with Lance Armstrong's US Postal team.

White had already stood down as Orica-GreenEDGE sports director and CA road co-ordinator on Saturday.

CA agreed his position was untenable.

"In that role (as elite men's road co-ordinator, White) has made a significant, valuable contribution to our men's national teams and at no time do we believe his influence or actions went against the best interests of the sport," the CA board said in a statement on Wednesday.

"However, the admissions contained within his public statement of 13 October clearly place him in breach of the CA Anti-Doping Policy and Code of Conduct.

"Accordingly, the board has determined that his ongoing employment with CA is untenable and Matt was formally advised overnight of the termination of his contract."

CA also said the sport's world governing body, the UCI, had not done enough in the fight against performance-enhancing drugs.

"We acknowledge that there is now clear evidence that the UCI, until recent times, failed to fully and properly do its part to stamp out doping," said the CA board.

"We stand by our belief that the UCI deserves significant credit in a number of areas, namely its persistence in dealing with the Operation Puerto files and the groundbreaking introduction of the Biological Passport.

"We believe there is also reasonable evidence to support the view that the current professional peloton is much 'cleaner' and fair competition is now taking place. However, we concede questions do remain.

"How the UCI responds to the USADA file and how it addresses the allegations within it will be critical to the reputation of the organisation and that of the sport of cycling."

The CA board also decided not to back a possible amnesty against cycling drug cheats, as it "is not consistent with CA's strong anti-doping position".

The prospect of an amnesty had been flagged by CA president Klaus Mueller.

But CA did support the proposal to criminalise doping.

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