Conference looks to map future beyond doping for professional cycling

Q: So how does it make you feel as a cyclist when you hear all this stuff about cycling?

A: You've got to have a pretty thick skin. I rode through that era where there was publicity and now it's not been so bad. But it's not a level playing field. The other sports can get away with it. We've got the league code in Australia. I know it's recreational most of it … Drugs are in all the football codes.

Q: Really?

A: Big time. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know the AFL guys are running twice the distance and twice as quick as they would ten years ago. They're all on growth hormones. There's no test for it. Why do you think men are running 9.6 seconds of 100M?

Extract - "I wish I was Twenty One Today" – Beyond Doping in the Australian Peloton"

As cycling fans gather in Geelong, controversial US cyclist Floyd Landis will join legal experts, scientists and academics at Deakin University's Alfred Deakin Research Institute, at the Geelong Waterfront Campus to debate the future of pro-cycling at the New Pathways for Pro Cycling Conference to be held Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 September 2010.

The conference will take place in D2.194 at the campus, 1 Gheringhap Street Geelong, and include the release of the Deakin University Research Report - "I wish I was Twenty One Today" – Beyond Doping in the Australian Peloton.

The report interviews current and former cyclists and it gives an insight into cyclists' lives, the culture of the Peloton, their views on doping, the reasons why it exists, and the ways it can be eradicated.

Conference organiser and lead author of the report Martin Hardie from the University's Law School said the issue the conference was interested in was how to build a sustainable basis for cycling in the future.

"It is clear that the sport cannot continue on in the way it has this year," he said.

"Floyd has asked us if he could take part in the panel discussion and we think his presence will enhance the discussion.

"Floyd Landis wants to talk about his ideas for the future and the solution – as he said back in May, he wants to be part of the solution, and we are happy to give him a space to open up a conversation about that."

Other speakers include:

• Dr Klaas Faber, expert in chemometrics and statistics and anti-doping practices used in sport
• Carlos Arribas, Spanish cycling journalist and the man who broke Operacion Puerto
• Professor Verner Moller, author of the 'The Doping Devil' and 'Sacrifice, On The Exit of Michael Rasmussen from the Tour de France'
• Dr Michael Ashenden, sport scientist and antidoping researcher
• Michael Drapac, a property developer who runs a professional cycling team with a difference, who will contribute to the debate about the structural changes in cycling
• Paul Hayes, barrister, who will talk on the 'The Olympic Edition Cereal Box: WADA, the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Code'
• Keith Mansell, Australian cycling historian, who will talk about sustaining domestic traditions in a globalised sport

The conference will feature a forum on the controversial Biological Passport testing system and a panel discussion on the topic Where to Now for Pro Cycling?

Mr Hardie said in the end the only way for cycling to regain its credibility was to come out of its crisis by dealing with the issues it faces in an open, transparent and impartial manner.

"Part of that process is giving voice to the cyclists – our report seeks to do that and we hope that Floyd's presence will also enhance that process."