Gregory Baugé and his lawyers have declared the actions of the International Cycling Union (UCI) – when it retrospectively disqualified him from his two World titles – illegal, Le Figaro reports. In an interview with the French newspaper, the French sprinter declared his intention to fight the UCI’s decision, which overruled one made by the French Cycling Federation (FFC), while concentrating on training for next summer’s Olympic Games.
Baugé was sanctioned after three violations under whereabouts regulations; within an eighteen-month period the Frenchman filled out his whereabouts information after the deadline, while the third breach was a missed random anti-doping test. The FFC decision was to retrospectively suspend Baugé between December 23rd 2010 and December 22nd 2011, but the UCI was not satisfied that this had gone far enough and also decided to disqualify him from all results during that period.
“First, I'm going to train because I have a goal during this year 2012, to shine for France at the Olympics in London," he said. “Then yes, I’ll go to my lawyer to see what he can do about this decision that bothers me; me, and especially for my teammates in the team sprint, and the France track cycling team.”
Baugé rode a number of events during the year of his retroactive suspension, but by far his biggest results were the two World titles he took in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, last March. The Sprint crown he stands to lose only affects him, but that of the Team Sprint was won along with Michaël D'Almeida and Kévin Sireau, who also stand to lose their titles.
The Frenchman intends to fight the UCI decision though, and hopes to have the FFC on his side as he does so.
“I think that the Federation supports me so far,” he said. “They should not be happy to be overruled by the UCI. We will unite, both the Federation and my lawyers to get justice.”
Baugé’s lawyer, Monsieur Michel-Gabriel, later released details of a letter to the UCI, which disputes the legality of its overruling the FFC without a proper appeal to the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS).
“My client can not accept the unilateral correction of results of races during the period of suspension...” it read. “You had no authority and legitimacy to the challenge, even partially, without recourse to an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Therefore, it follows that all titles received by my client, in the period from December 23, 2010 to December 22, 2011, cannot simply be removed by your mail and must remain in the absence of any new procedure.”
Should the UCI agree that they have, indeed, to first consult the CAS in order to remove Baugé from the record books – and without doing so it’s tough to see what kind of punishment a retrospective ban would be – then cycling could well be in store for yet another lengthy legal fight.