Jaksche: Cookson should talk to Armstrong and Landis

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Jörg Jaksche has told Cyclingnews that any one with information into cycling’s doping culture, including Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis, should be welcomed into any form of amnesty or truth sharing process, no matter their degree of guilt or level of doping in the past.

Jaksche rode as a professional in the late 1990s and 2000s – through an era of unchecked and widespread doping – for teams such as Telekom, Polti, CSC, ONCE and Tinkoff. He admitted to doping after being named in the Operacion Puerto scandal that rocked cycling in 2006.

However, in the last few years the German, who is now studying economics, has become somewhat of an anti-doping advocate, linking up with the Change Cycling Now pressure group.

“I think that truth and any reconciliation should not be about sanctions. It is about solutions,” he told Cyclingnews.

And Jaksche would welcome two of the sport’s most high-profile ex-dopers to take part in any such process.

“Lance Armstrong is not the roots of evil in sports. The sport allowed Lance to be as he was. I know Lance was a strange guy like we all were, racing down the Galibier at 110k an hour with rain and snow only dressed in lycra. But he is human and he will get more human with time, it is good for him and good for the sport.”

“I think Lance is so struck in his legal battles that he can’t be 100 per cent honest and open about his past.”

“However it would be wise for [Brian] Cookson to just offer him to talk to him when Lance can be 100 per cent honest."

The second individual Jaksche who believes should be involved is Floyd Landis. The American won the Tour in 2006 but within days he was stripped of the title for a positive testosterone test. He spent years denying the truth before finally admitting to his past in 2010. He also helped set in motion Armstrong’s downfall.

“I think people like Floyd are important too because he doesn’t earn money in cycling anymore.”

"At the end of the day, all people that have no problem to talk about their past as long as they don’t have to fear professional consequences.

“Lance is a tricky subject, but TRC is about the sport and while I condemn the bullying he did to people like Emma O’Reilly, that should not be confused with the sport and he should be made welcome if he wants to talk, but you know I am not better or worse than him in what I did in terms of doping, so I am not a moral benchmark.”

“Let’s see what happens, if Cookson asks me I will go, but lets see what the UCI will do with all that info. I tried one time in 2007 and they screwed me.”