UCI put Paul Kimmage case on hold

Paul Kimmage Defense Fund@18.00 BST 26th October 2012

The UCI, Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen appear to have caved into growing pressure on the social networks, especially on Twitter, and are suspending the legal action against Paul Kimmage. 

Since the UCI press conference on Monday the fund has grown rapidly and currently stands at ¢83,411.50 from 2796 donors. 

From the UCI statement:

‘Finally, while continuing strongly to maintain the merits of UCI’s case, the Committee decided to seek to suspend the UCI legal action against journalist Paul Kimmage, pending the findings of the independent Commission. UCI President Pat McQuaid and Honorary President Hein Verbruggen who are individual parties to the case will similarly seek to put their cases on hold.’

Full UCI statement here ion Armstrong and independent review. 

Story on Velonation here.

Although the action hasn't been stopped entirely, it seems unlikely that it will ever now proceed. Given that Pat McQuaid insisted at Monday's press conference that the action would go ahead and repeated that on at least one radio interview this week, this is a big climbdown by McQuaid. 

Did the UCI's management committee tell McQuaid to stop being so stupid and pushed for the action to be suspended?  

Update: 27th October – statement from Cyclimas on the continuation of the Paul Kimmage Defense Fund.