Three times Tour de France champion Greg LeMond said on Monday (December 3) he is willing to run for president of the International Cycling Union (UCI) after a series of doping scandals in the sport.
Change Cycling Now, a lobby group campaigning to clean up cycling, has called for Pat McQuaid to quit as head of the UCI, the sport's governing body, accusing him of failing to root out doping.
Asked if he was ready to run for UCI president in 2013, LeMond, who won the Tour in 1986, 89 and 90, said: "I would love to be part of the process to change and if that means an interim presidency I would be willing to do that, yes."
McQuaid has said he is seeking a third term.
LeMond is part of Change Cycling Now, which has been set up by former riders, journalists and a sponsor who look to radically change the way the sport is ruled in the wake of the Lance Armstrong scandal.
The American has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after the United States Anti-Doping Agency(USADA) accused him of being at the centre of an organised doping conspiracy.
Change Cycling Now have invited riders to back a plan it says could remove doping suspicions undermining the sport after the Armstrong affair.
"The assistance we are seeking from the riders will be to put in place a system that will guarantee that the winner of the major tours has not blood doped," said doctor Michael Ashenden, a leading anti-doping campaigner.
"It's a short-term intensive approach that will restore public confidence in the riders and the race outcome," Ashenden, an expert on combating blood doping, told a news conference organised by "Change Cycling Now".
Ashenden gave no further details of his proposal but said he had briefed Gianni Bugno, president of the riders association, with a view to its swift implementation for next season.
Bradley Wiggins, who rides for Team Sky, became the first Briton to win the Tour de France in 2012.
Team Sky has a zero tolerance policy towards staff members with a doping history and Wiggins angrily dismissed doping-related questions en route to his Tour triumph in the summer.
Ashenden said he was not accusing Wiggins of any wrongdoing but underlining the credibility issue the sport faces.
"That would be a remarkable day, when a rider can stand up and say "I won and you know that I didn't dope", blood dope, I need to be specific there," he said.
"The unfortunate reality is that everything that a rider can say today, Lance Armstrong already said. The reality is, no matter what a rider says, there is going to be doubt," he added g 1 .
Change Cycling Now, comprising former riders, journalists and anti-doping campaigners, has been put together by Jaimie Fuller, an Australian who is chairman of the SKINS sportswear company, a cycling sponsor.
Fuller said he had approached more than 10 current cyclists about the campaign but they were afraid to speak out.
"The vast majority were intimidated about what could happen to them if they stuck their head above the parapet and were critical of the UCI," he said.
LeMond praised USADA's investigation which brought the issues to light but said the UCI had to take responsibility for it taking 13 years since Armstrong tested positive for the truth to come out.
"There was a huge amount of political pressure to put all of this under the rug and they (USADA) did an amazing job. The sad thing (is) it took that long to do. The fact was Armstrong was positive in 1999, they were under investigation in 2000. It's all been there. That's why the UCI needs to be held accountable."
LeMond, who had long been critical of Armstrong and admitted he had also been the victim of intimidation, said he would shake the disgraced cyclist's hand if he were to cooperate in the process.
"That (telling the truth) would be the best thing that he (Armstrong) could ever do," LeMond added. "I would shake his hand because I think he didn't act alone, he's not the only person. The problem existed long before Lance so the issues we're talking about were there before Armstrong won the Tour. He had the best team to exploit it."
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