UCI to introduce anti-doping ‘passports’

The International Cycling Union is hoping to introduce anti-doping passports for riders as soon as next year.

Anne Gripper, the UCI’s anti-doping chief, said yesterday that blood and urine samples would be collected from all professional riders to create “a biological passport” – a medical profile that could then be compared to the values registered in subsequent doping tests. “What in effect it means is that the rider becomes his own reference point,” Gripper said.”We look for variations in a rider’s individual profile to determine whether there may be some indication of using a prohibited method or a prohibited substance.”Gripper said she believes cycling – which has been rocked by doping scandals in recent years – is the first sport to introduce such a passport programme.She said the ICU plans to launch the measure in early 2008, with details being released at an anti-doping meeting in Paris next Monday and Tuesday.The programme will not be limited to Tour de France riders but cover all the cyclists in UCI Pro teams.Changes in an athlete’s test parametres will allow doping experts to detect substances for which the limits are less well defined, such as blood doping, Gripper said.”What we’re looking for is indirect evidence of the fact that cyclists may be doing something to increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of their blood either through blood doping or through small doses of EPO or something like that,” she said.World Ant-Doping Agency president Dick Pound said on Tuesday he thinks anti-doping passports will be in widespread use within three years, but not in time for next year’s Beijing Olympics.Nampa-Sapa-AP”What in effect it means is that the rider becomes his own reference point,” Gripper said.”We look for variations in a rider’s individual profile to determine whether there may be some indication of using a prohibited method or a prohibited substance.”Gripper said she believes cycling – which has been rocked by doping scandals in recent years – is the first sport to introduce such a passport programme.She said the ICU plans to launch the measure in early 2008, with details being released at an anti-doping meeting in Paris next Monday and Tuesday.The programme will not be limited to Tour de France riders but cover all the cyclists in UCI Pro teams.Changes in an athlete’s test parametres will allow doping experts to detect substances for which the limits are less well defined, such as blood doping, Gripper said.”What we’re looking for is indirect evidence of the fact that cyclists may be doing something to increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of their blood either through blood doping or through small doses of EPO or something like that,” she said.World Ant-Doping Agency president Dick Pound said on Tuesday he thinks anti-doping passports will be in widespread use within three years, but not in time for next year’s Beijing Olympics.Nampa-Sapa-AP