Johan Bruyneel, former team manager of US Postal, Astana, and RadioShack, and who led Lance Amstrong to seven Tour de France victories before his record was expunged for doping, has launched a new sports management company.

The Belgian, who is banned for life from direct involvement in professional cycling and all other WADA sports, has named his new venture 7evenPlusTwo. The company aims to work with athletes in a number of ways, including brand management, contract negotiation, and life planning, as well as providing event organizing and promotional services.

The company name, 7evenPlusTwo, is a reference to the number of Tour de France titles Bruyneel has won as team director, including, in the words of USADA, "the most sophisticated, specialized, and successful doping program the sport has ever seen," including seven titles won thanks to "the most sophisticated, specialized, and successful doping program the sport has ever seen.

7evenPlusTwo's website describes it as "an international sports marketing and strategy agency."

"We manage sports assets ranging from large sporting events and their associated brands to individual athlete life plans," the website states.

"Our work with teams in all sports focuses on developing winning strategies to help turn good teams into great teams. Our strategies help individual athletes become legends in their sport.

"Sports is big business and we work with sponsors, rights holders, governments, and international sports organizations to create profitable, world-class sports spectacles.

7evenPlusTwo appears to be targeting athletes, event organizers, and sports team owners (current and prospective), although it is not yet clear if the new company has any customers.

In 2014, the American Arbitration Association banned Bruyneel from involvement in professional cycling for 10 years; as a result of a failed appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2018, his ban was extended to a lifetime ban, during which Bruyneel stated: "We are all children of our time. and faced the pitfalls and temptations that were part of the culture of the time. We did not always make the best choices.

"Despite the CAS decision, it remains my goal and desire to grow my sport and help make it better in the years to come."

News of Bruyneel's new venture raises questions about his qualifications to run a company of this nature and perhaps work directly with current athletes, given his lifetime ban.

The current WADA Code and UCI Anti-Doping Rules (Article 10.12) state:

"An athlete or other person who has been declared ineligible may, in any capacity during the period of ineligibility, be a Signatory Party, a member organization, club or other

"An Athlete or other person who has been declared Ineligible may not, during the period of Ineligibility, participate in any capacity in any competition or activity sanctioned or organized by the Signatory, any member organization, club or other affiliate of the Signatory, or any competition sanctioned or organized by a professional league, international or national level competition organization, or elite or national level sports activity funded by a governmental agency.

"The following provisions are not applicable.

In recent years, similar questions were raised when Bruyneel's former team leader, Lance Armstrong, hosted a podcast at the Tour de France and appeared on the NBC Sports television coverage; the UCI told Cycling News that his activities at the race were not violate the terms of his own lifetime ban, it said.

As of last October, the U.S. government was seeking a $1.2 million payment from Bruyneel as part of Floyd Landis' whistleblower suit under the False Claims Act. The Belgian was found to have "unfairly benefited from fraud" while overseeing the US Postal Service team.

Armstrong, meanwhile, was last in the news in late September when he offered a five-day cycling vacation in Majorca. The trip was co-sponsored by former teammate George Hincapie, and each of up to 12 guests would be responsible for $30,000.