On the Cycling Podcast the other day, Lionel Birnie made the good point that the UCI probably won't actually investigate the TUEs since it risks showing that they were complicit in the corruption.
I also wonder if ASO's lapdog really has that much of an appetite for bringing further asterisks to the list of winners of their biggest race...
I suspect that since the offences were committed two UCI presidents ago, and there are convenient bad guys to blame such as Zorzoli, McQuaid and Verbruggen, then Lappartient won't be too uncomfortable with any findings, unless he himself was also complicit in some way (perhaps he sees the UCI Management Committee he was on was sufficiently far removed from the TUE approvals process).
His willingness to call for CADF to investigate may be down to Prudhomme seeing the writing on the wall for Sky, which means ASO doesn't really need Sky so much any more. With Froome's likely ban meaning he'll probably miss the 2018 Tour, and the seemingly never-ending stream of bad Sky behaviour and PED/malpractice revelations, coupled with Wiggins's/Brailsford's/Sky's own national parliament declaring its belief they were/are operating unethically and mis-using performance-enhancing drugs, there is a fast-reducing imperative on ASO to continue to want or need Sky's/Froome's presence.
Factor in the likelihood of Disney finding the Team Sky brand and personnel too toxic, and the whole procycling sponsorship thing probably not fitting with its general strategy, not to mention how Murdoch seems to regard all publicity as good publicity (witness the Sun's reporting) - milking the situation and procycling for all it's worth regardless of the consequences, I imagine Prudhomme is now just thinking enough's enough with Sky's bull$h1t and ethical vacuum (but still keeping his options open).
Then again, it could be just that as a new president who's stated his aim to crack down on such things, Lappartient couldn't really stay quiet.....
