Garmin-Sharp manager hopes he will help the broader fight against doping
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Garmin-Sharp manager Jonathan Vaughters was present in Milan for the unveiling of the new leaders' jerseys for the 2013 Giro d'Italia.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Garmin-Sharp manager Jonathan Vaughters, whose team returns to the Giro d'Italia with defending champion Ryder Hesjedal, was present in Milan at the unveiling of the new leaders' jerseys.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Garmin-Sharp manager Jonathan Vaughters, whose team includes defending Giro champion Ryder Hesjedal, was dressed to the nines for the unveiling of the Giro's new leaders' jerseys.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
He was a teammate of the Texan and has since confessed to doping while at the US Postal Service team. His confession and his work to support other riders to confess helped lead USADA collect a critical amount of evidence, reveal Armstrong's sins and lead to him being banned for life.
Vaughters revealed to Cyclingnews that he will be on a plane when the Oprah show is broadcast on television and also asked people to see the bigger picture and understand that any confession from Armstrong will not mark the start of a new era.
"Everyone always looks for definitive points but I don't think the world works like that, there's always progression," Vaughters argued.
"The progression to cleaner cycling started in 1998 with the Festina Affair. Did that end doping? No, by no means. Did it help? Did it get the process started? Was WADA created because of the Festina scandal? Yes.
"If you move forward, having high-profile athletes like Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis go positive, Operacion Puerto, David Millar's story, and all of these events, each one moved things forward in a positive way. Everyone sees it as bad news for the sport but if you look respectively, each event helped reduce doping in cycling. The key to keep that forward progress, we have to keep pushing."
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Vaughters called on Armstrong to do more than make a partial confession or apologies to the people he has bullied and worked to silence.
"If and this is a big if, if Lance chooses to come forward and be honest, then I have to respect that decision. Absolutely. I hope that after talking about it publicly, he also chooses to speak to the anti-doping authorities like WADA, and help them develop new tests, learning how to move the system in their favour," Vaughters told Cyclingnews.
"The doping issue in cycling has never been about Lance Armstrong and Lance Armstrong only. It's a broader problem and always has been. But hopefully he will help fix that broader issue."
Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
