"Cycling deserves leadership without double standards" - Johan Bruyneel fires back, calling Lappartient a "hypocrite"

Johan Bruyneel's beef with UCI president David Lappartient has not come to an end yet. The Belgian who has been banned from the world of cycling for his contribution in systematic doping of a professional team US Postal and their then star Lance Armstrong in early 2000s. As such, Bruyneel is therefore permitted from having any official function in the sport at any point in future.

According to Lappartient, this dictate has been broken by Bruyneel during recent Tour de France when the 60-year-old appeared at the race site as a guest of a local Belgian TV. On contrary, Bruyneel claims that his ban doesn't involve media presence and then shoots back at Lappartient for being a hypocrite with double standards.

"It is disappointing to see the President of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), Mr. David Lappartient, publicly and heavily object to my presence at the start of a stage at the recent Tour de France - where I participated solely in a media capacity - while at the same time maintaining close ties with political leaders (dictators) whose records on human rights are deeply troubling," he wrote on X.

"Mr. Lappartient has appeared publicly alongside President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and former President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan, two heads of state widely criticized by international human rights organizations for systemic violations of fundamental freedoms. Despite this, both have been welcomed by the UCI, decorated with awards, and actively involved in high-profile partnerships within the cycling world."

"This inconsistency raises serious questions about the standards the UCI and Lappartient applies - and to whom. If the UCI leadership is comfortable honoring authoritarian regimes with well-documented human rights abuses, then singling out my presence at a sporting event as unacceptable seems not only hypocritical but politically motivated."

"Cycling deserves leadership that applies its values consistently, without double standards or selective outrage," he concludes.