Matt White receives backdated ban for doping admission

The Australian former cyclist Matt White, a team-mate of Lance Armstrong, has received a six month ban from the sport for his admission of doping during his career - but it had already expired by the time he heard about it.

He says he now hopes to return to a career in cycling.

The ban was reduced from one year because White cooperated with anti-doping authorities, according to The Star Online. He found out what it was on Friday, but it had already expired on April 13.

White, who at the time of his admission was the elite men’s road coordinator with the Australian national team, said he was involved in doping while riding for the US Postal Service team.

The Australian Olympic Committee have said that White will never again be part of an Australian Games team.

Cycling Australia acknowledged that White’s admission of doping at US Postal, where he rode between 2001 and 2003 and again in 2006 and 2007 when it was known as Discovery Channel, represented a clear breach of its anti-doping rules and code of conduct. He was informed soon afterwards that his contract had been terminated.

Orica-GreenEdge then clear its decision to sack him from his position as sports director.

In a confession published on October 13th, after being named in the USADA dossier on Armstrong, 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's record has been blemished for some time, causing some to wonder why he continued to be employed in these roles after January 2011, when he was sacked as directeur sportive by Garmin-Cervelo on the same day he had led Cameron Meyer to overall victory in the Tour Down Under.

White left the team after it emerged that he had broken protocol by not obtaining authorisation from its medical staff before referring a rider to an outside doctor – in this case, former US Postal doctor Luis Garcia Del Moral - who is now under investigation by Spanish prosecuters over doping allegations.