By timbo_77
October 16th 2008 @ 2:23am
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The UCI to extend drug bans for cyclists in 2009
UCI president Pat McQuaid has announced that in 2009 the UCI will increase the maximum ban of two years for doping offences to four years. The president of cycling’s ruling body admitted in an interview with Cycling News that his personal preference is to ban riders for life who are caught wilfully cheating.
“I would like to see them out of the sport for good. That is purely on a personal level,” McQuaid told the website.
The UCI, however, is not able to sanction riders with life bans under the World Anti Doping Authority (WADA) code.
“Currently the world anti-doping code gives a maximum two-year sanction in the case of a positive test. From the first of January there is a bit more flexibility in it, and we can go up to a four-year ban in the cases of something regarded as willful cheating,” McQuaid told Cycling News.
The decision comes after four riders produced positive samples to the new form of EPO CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator) during or after the 2008 Tour de France, along with three more riders for producing positive samples to other banned substances during the Tour de France in 2008, including Spain’s Manuel Beltran and Russia’s Dmitry Fofonov.
Perhaps the most shocking case of doping for Australian cycling fans is that of the Polka-dot jersey winner Bernard Koh,l who was due to join Cadel Evans at Silence-Lotto next season.
The aim of the maximum four-year ban is to deter riders from consciously abusing banned substances to gain success.
A rider will be deemed wilfully cheating in 2009 if they deliberately use a banned substance to enhance their performance.
McQuaid highlights the cases of Bernard Kohl and Stefan Schumacher as examples of riders who were given a banned substance and deliberately used it to enhance their performance.
“Next year a rider in that position would face a four year ban,” he said.
2008 has been a good year for the UCI in its fight against doping.
But questions still remain about the quality of testing procedures after Riccardo Ricco openly admitted to doping throughout the Tour de France, yet only produced two positive samples out of ten tests.
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Greg Russell said | October 17th 2008 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
There has to be something very wrong here: the president of the UCI is saying some things that are really sensible (and which many of us realized a long time ago). Is this possible?
timbo_77 said | October 18th 2008 @ 9:02am | Report comment
The UCI has been working very hard at developing new doping tests (e.g. the test for CERA), although it seems tedious and slow from an outsiders perspective, I think 2009 has been a good year in the fight against doping. With the biological passport system fully operational in 2009 and hopefully the introduction of four year bans for willful cheating, the UCI might start getting on top of doping. I still can’t work out why riders take the risk? Is it team management making them? Is it team doctors? Whoever is getting to these riders and telling them to dope needs to face some hard sanctions!