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Cycling leader defends costly doping program
The Associated PressThe International Cycling Union this week named five riders it suspected of doping among 840 professionals who have given samples to the biological passport project since it launched 18 months ago.
"It shows and proves to everybody that it actually works and that we do come up with results at the end of the day," UCI president Pat McQuaid said Friday.
The UCI also won support for its anti-doping fight from International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge. In an address to the UCI management board meeting at IOC headquarters, Rogge said Friday that cycling's work to establish the biological passport was "truly remarkable."
The five riders - three Spaniards and two Italians - including 2003 road race world champion Igor Astarloa, face disciplinary cases from their national federations.
But some among the 18 top-tier teams who each pay $168,000 a year toward the testing costs have grumbled that they expected more for their money.
"I've seen some criticism from some team managers who ought to know better," McQuaid said. "They seemed to be expecting that the top 10 riders in the world were going to be caught in the first 10 cases.
"It is catching people who are fiddling around with their blood. Secondly, it is working as a wonderful deterrent."
The UCI itself pays $930,000 toward annual costs for the passport. Riders also contribute from their prize money.
A total of 10,000 blood and urine samples are taken each year to create body chemistry profiles.
Suspected doping is spotted in fluctuations from riders' baseline levels as scientists search for evidence of drug use rather than identifying specific substances. Their analysis is presented to a UCI-appointed panel of nine experts who decide if the evidence can support a disciplinary case.
The UCI has delayed naming riders for several months to ensure that the first cases relying on passport evidence stand up to legal challenges.
McQuaid said more riders would be named though the UCI could take a different approach to suspicious cases before the Tour de France begins on July 4.
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