Cycling:The International Cycling Union (UCI) has suspended legal action against Irish journalist Paul Kimmage pending the outcome of an independent investigation into the organisation's role in the Lance Armstrong scandal.
The UCI announced today that the independent commission will investigate allegations made against it over the Armstrong affair that saw the seven-time Tour de France winner stripped of the titles he won from 1999-2005.
It also confirmed that nobody will replace Armstrong as winner of those titles.
"With respect to Lance Armstrong and the implications of the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) sanctions which it endorsed on Monday October 22nd, the management committee decided not to award victories to any other rider or upgrade other placings in any of the affected events," UCI said in a statement today.
Armstrong was formally stripped of his seven titles on Monday when the UCI ratified the USADA decision to ban the 41-year-old Texan for life and nullify his results from August 1998 onward.
The governing body said part of the independent commission's remit would be to find ways to ensure that anyone caught doping would no longer be able to take part in the sport, even as a non-rider in a team.
Legal proceedings against Kimmage were initiated in January by the UCI and its president Pat McQuaid and honorary president Hein Verbruggen. Both claimed to have been defamed by the journalist in articles published by The Sunday Timesand L'Equipe.
He was due to attend a trial in Switzerland on December 12th and many of his supporters have already contributed to a defence fund set up online, which at the time of writing totalled over €83,000.
The decision to stall legal action against Kimmage comes just days after McQuaid insisted it would go ahead, arguing that it was a “straight forward defamation” case unrelated to the Armstrong findings.
Though it stopped short of terminating proceedings altogether, today’s UCI statement will be an undoubted boost to Kimmage and his supporters.
“While continuing strongly to maintain the merits of UCI’s case, the committee decided to seek to suspend the UCI legal action against journalist Paul Kimmage, pending the findings of the independent Commission,” a press release read.
“UCI president Pat McQuaid and honorary president Hein Verbruggen who are individual parties to the case will similarly seek to put their cases on hold.”