Remember when Vaughters sacked Matt White?

Who can forget the surprise sacking of head directeur sportif, Matt White, from Garmin-Cervolo during the 2011 Tour Down Under.  It was reported at the time that White was sacked for referred former team rider Trent Lowe to Dr Luis Garcia del Moral of the Sports Institute of Valencia in April 2009, breaking the team's internal policy that all medical referrals are approved by the team's medical staff.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/slipstream-sports-offers-update-on-lowe-case

Del Moral was the head of medical staff of the US Postal team between 1999 - 2003 and has been implicated in the USADA case against Lance Armstrong, which accuses Armstrong of being at the centre of an elaborate doping conspiracy.

White was sacked one week after the launch the GreenEdge cycling team that would be competing for a in  World Tour licence. It was widely reported at the time that White that the true reason behind his sacking was being groomed for a role at GreenEdge and he might take with him several young Australian riders that were riding with Garmin.

White riding for US Postal Team 

White has now been implicated in the USADA Armstrong dossier. One of the rider's testimony has accused White of taking drugs while riding with the US Postal Team.  This occurred at the same time that Vaughters was riding with US Postal.  Vaughters has since admitted to doping while riding for US Postal.

White has not made a public statement on these accusations. However, it now becomes clearer why Vaughters took this drastic action back in 2011. Given his personal knowledge of doping at the US Postal team, he would have had a genuine concerns that White was dealing with Dr Del Moral.

Postscript: Since I wrote this Blog, Matt White has admitted to doping and has stepped down from his roles as Cycling Australia and Orica GreenEdge.

In his media statement, White said, "I am sad to say that I was part of a team where doping formed part of the team's strategy and I, too, was involved in that strategy".

"My involvement is something I am not proud of and I sincerely apologise to my fans, media, family and friends who trusted me, and also to other athletes in my era that consciously chose not to dope." White said. 

Cycling Australia is in damage control. Cycling Australia will meet to this week to discuss the fall out from the Lance Armstrong Affair.  The Herald Sun has reported that the CA has admitted his organisation was perhaps "naive'' in appointing Matt White to key roles.

After the poor team selections at the Olympics and the World Championships, I am glad that we have seen the back of Matt White.  I just hope that he will not reappointed in the future when this issue has settled down.