Orica-GreenEdge sports director, Australian Matt White, has been named in the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA's) case against Lance Armstrong.
"The findings of USADA were that there was systematic doping by virtually everyone in the team. I was aware that Matt White had been on the team at the relevant time," said Klaus Mueller, Cycling Australia president.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
In addition to leading Australia's first WorldTour team, White also holds positions within Cycling Australia as the professional road coordinator and a national selector.
The 38 year old raced alongside Armstrong on the US Postal Services team from 2001 to 2003, and former team mate Floyd Landis has implicated White in evidence he provided to USADA.
Cycling Australia president Klaus Mueller, who yesterday announced that he would consider an amnesty for Australian cyclists, told the Sydney Morning Herald that he was already aware that White may have been involved.
''We are continuing to read all the material and quite candidly I haven't got to the part [in USADA's Reasoned Decision] of Floyd Landis,'' Mueller told Rupert Guinness at the Sydney Morning Herald.
''But I was already aware. The findings of USADA were that there was systematic doping by virtually everyone in the team. I was aware that Matt White had been on the team at the relevant time.''
Cycling Australia President Klaus Mueller by Cycling Central
White is named in an “exhibit” to Landis's affidavit where he talks of dealings with former team director Johan Bruyneel, team trainer Jose Marti and doctor Luis Garcia del Moral about the use of human growth hormone and testosterone in 2003.
''I then spent substantial time training with fellow USPS team members ''Rider-9'' and Michael Barry and shared, and discussed the use of HGH, testosterone and erythropoietin with them while training,” Landis wrote.
In additional conversations in exhibit B of Landis' affidavit, Landis again tells of the 2003 situation, in an almost identical manner, which reads: ''While training for that Vuelta, I spent a good deal of time training with Matthew White and Michael Barry and shared the testosterone and EPO that we had and discussed the use thereof while training.''
While Canadian Barry has admitted to doping and has retired from cycling, he will face a six-month bad and will be stripped of all of his results between May 13 2003 and July 31 2006.
Other Australians also named in the “reasoned decision” are Orica-GreenEDGE rider Allan Davis (Queensland) and Team Sky's Michael Rogers (ACT).
Davis was originally linked to evidence from Operation Puerto in Spain in 2006, however he was later cleared by a Spanish court.
Rogers was named in American Levi Leipheimer's affidavit which states that he was one of several cyclists who took part in training camps in Tenerife in the Canary Islands in 2005 with controversial doctor Michele Ferrari. Rogers has stated that he was never offered drugs while working with Ferrari and the T-Mobile team.
RESOURCES (NOTE THAT THESE ARE PDF'S)
