Intro:

The head of world cycling's governing body describes Lance Armstrong's plans to ride the Tour de France route a day before the professional peloton as "disrespectful" to current riders, as
International Cycling Union (UCI) president Brian Cookson speaks in London on Tuesday (17th March).

Script:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Brian Cookson, UCI President (Q: What reaction have you had yourself since the Cycling Independent Reform Commission report last week?):

"Well I've had a lot of support from people who know their sports because I think what people realise is that cycling isn't the only sport that has a drugs problem. We, I think, are at the forefront of leading the battle to protect clean athletes and I think we've got some important lessons that other sports can learn from us."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Brian Cookson, UCI President (Q: Would you consider your term as UCI President a failure if doping is still rife in the sport when it's over?):

"Well I think there may well be high profile cases throughout my tenure as President of the UCI. You could look on that as failure, you could look on that as success if it means that we're catching people. My position is irrelevant to that. I want to try and catch people who are cheating. I want to stop people cheating in the first place. Whatever the price that I personally pay for that is irrelevant. I'm not going to compromise. I'm determined to drive this scourge out of our sport as much as it is possible to do."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Brian Cookson, UCI President (Q: Do you want Astana to be kicked out of the sport?):

"Well we've asked the licence commission to withdraw their licence because we don't think that they're taking the anti-doping battle seriously enough. The licence commission is going to meet shortly and see what they have to say about it as a team and then there will be a decision and we'll see what happens after that."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Brian Cookson, UCI President (on Lance Armstrong's charity cycle plans):

"Well, I think it's an ill-advised plan, to be quite honest. It's disrespectful to the current riders in the peloton, it's disrespectful to the Tour de France. I think there are other ways in which Lance Armstrong could perhaps raise funds for cancer charities which I know are close to his heart. I have no problem with him doing that but I think doing it in such close association with the Tour de France is a bad idea
(Q: Is there any way of stopping him?):
"There is nothing that I can do about it. It's not part of a UCI event but I am asking him not to do it."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Brian Cookson, UCI President (Q: Is it his association with the event that concerns you?):

"Well, I think just the very fact that he is going to be there for some, or all, of it is going to detract and distract from the Tour de France itself. From the current riders, from the current peloton, from current efforts to get over the problems that Lance and his colleagues caused in that era."