October 24/11 18:34 pm - Louis Garneau Makes Statement Regarding Drug-free Cycling

Posted by Editor on 10/24/11
 

Today, Louis Garneau, founder of Louis Garneau Sports, former Olympic cyclist and sponsor of the team Garneau-Club Chaussures that recently had two riders admit to using banned substances, made the following statement:

I want to talk today about the future of drug-free cycling. I will not be talking about the Papillon or Agreda affairs; they have already been amply discussed!

Today, our message is clear: Race clean, own your victory!

Drug-free cycling is possible and the people who have decided to support me, an Olympic cyclist, and my team are the living proof of that statement: Marc Blouin, Olympic cyclist; Yvan Waddell, Olympic cyclist; Joakim Albert, Canadian champion; and David Veilleux, professional cyclist.

When the news about Agreda came out last Friday night, I called my champion friends without hesitation! Surprised and angry, they all immediately agreed to make a statement against doping in cycling and to bear witness to the fact that the Papillon and Agreda cases are exceptions. David Veilleux and Joakim Albert, as well as my own two sons, William and Édouard, have all been on my team!

Today, without losing any time, the Fédération québécoise des sports cyclistes (FQSC), the Canadian Cycling Association (CCA), the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) and Louis Garneau Sports are uniting to eliminate this problem.

I discussed the situation yesterday with Steve Bauer (currently in Belgium with his team) and we have come to the same conclusion: we now have to go to the source and find out who the suppliers of performance enhancing drugs are, something that will involve the police over the next few weeks.

Finally, I want to ask parents and coaches to be ever vigilant with children and young adults. An athlete on drugs often isn't very obvious...

We must make people aware of the problem again and talk about it as much as needed. Most of all, we all have to work hand in hand to win this fight against the worldwide performance enhancing drugs problem!

I BELIEVE IN DRUG-FREE CYCLING!