Orica-GreenEDGE sacks White over doping

SYDNEY (AFP) –

File photo of pro-cycling team Orica-GreenEdge director Matt White (L) and team owner Gerry Ryan (C). Orica-GreenEDGE, owned by Ryan, has sacked White as sports director over his role in the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.

Australian professional cycling team Orica-GreenEDGE on Thursday sacked the disgraced Matt White as sports director over his role in the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.

White last month admitted he took drugs when he rode on the Armstrong-led US Postal Service team from 2001 to 2003 and GreenEDGE said it was severing ties as part of a range of initiatives to reaffirm its hardline stance on doping.

“Orica-GreenEDGE is a clean team and our commitment to being clean has been a foundation principle of the team since the day of its inception,” team owner Gerry Ryan said in a statement announcing White had been sacked.

“To maintain public confidence in our strict adherence to this principle OGE has appointed an eminent and independent external expert to audit the rigour and effectiveness of the team’s anti-doping policies and procedures.”

White was fired last month by Cycling Australia as coordinator of the national men’s road team and is being investigated by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA).

A damning report by the United States Anti-Doping Agency in October concluded that Armstrong helped orchestrate the most sophisticated doping programme in the history of sport.

He was issued a life ban and stripped of his seven Tour De France titles.