Lance Armstrong welcome to repay appearance money from Tour Down Under, says South Australia Premier Armstrong's first appearance at the Tour Down Under came in controversial circumstances as the American had not completed his biological passport for six months prior to competition. The International Cycling Union (UCI), though, waived their ruling to allow Armstrong to race. "The International Cycling Union has decided to approve Lance Armstrong's participation in the forthcoming Tour Down Under in Australia, to be held on January 20 to 25, the first event of the 2009 UCI ProTour," the UCI said in October 2008. According to Article 77 of the anti-doping regulations introduced in 2004, a retired rider may only return to competition by informing the UCI six months in advance in order to allow him/her to be available for out-of-competition testing. Consequently, Lance Armstrong would only be able to return to the sport at international level from February 2009 1, a week after the end of the Australian event. In respect of this situation, the UCI has taken into account the progress made in its anti-doping programme since 2004. As a result of the improvements implemented, riders are now subject to a much-reinforced system of monitoring compared with that of the past. Consequently, the aim of Article 77 at the time of its introduction in 2004 [to ensure that a rider returning to competition is subject to the same degree of testing as active riders] can be better achieved through careful application of the current methods of the anti-doping programme than by the strict application of a time period. The UCI can confirm that Lance Armstrong has and will be the subject of very strict monitoring throughout the period running up to his return to the peloton. Following the United States Anti-Doping Agency's damning report into Armstrong and the systematic doping programme employed by his US Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams, it has been alleged that the Texan donated around £62,000 to the UCI which led to accusations of bribery and hush money.