French team manager Jean-René Bernaudeau has spoken out in the midst of a season's end full of doping affairs and retired rider comebacks. The head of Bouygues Telecom, whose Jérôme Pineau has just won the seasonal French Cup on Thursday after Paris-Bourges, was more than annoyed at the recent positive doping tests of Stefan Schumacher and Leonardo Piepoli, as well as with some of the comeback announcements of suspended riders such as Ivan Basso.
Bernaudeau felt that cycling did not do enough to oust the cheaters, and accused the media of taking advantage of the numerous affairs in pro cycling. "I know today that, despite what the sports authorities or the government say, all of "this" continues. The [anti-doping - ed.] measures are not effective," he said to L'Equipe. "[French cycling magazine] Velo-Magazine gives three pages to the comeback of Ivan Basso. I feel that everybody is an accomplice! For me, Ivan Basso is a guy that doesn't exist! He was part of the Puerto affair."
