Wada on doping

SYDNEY – The world doping agency yesterday said Italian rider Riccardo Ricco tested positive at the Tour de France after a secret molecule was planted in the blood booster EPO during its manufacture.

Ricco, 24, upset the big names of the sport to win two stages of this year’s Tour before he was kicked off after testing positive for EPO (erythropoietin). Revealing the now high-tech nature of the fight against drugs in sport, World Anti-Doping Agency chief John Fahey said his organisation worked with drugs giant Roche on the newest version of EPO (erythropoietin).He said Roche had included a molecule in the third generation of EPO, called Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator (CARA), that acted as a flag in drug tests showing when an athlete was using the substance.”In the development of that particular substance, close cooperation occurred between Wada and the pharmaceutical company Roche Pharmaceuticals so that there was a molecule placed in the substance well in advance that was always going to be able to be detected once a test was taken,” Fahey told public radio in his native country Australia.Nampa-AFPRevealing the now high-tech nature of the fight against drugs in sport, World Anti-Doping Agency chief John Fahey said his organisation worked with drugs giant Roche on the newest version of EPO (erythropoietin).He said Roche had included a molecule in the third generation of EPO, called Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator (CARA), that acted as a flag in drug tests showing when an athlete was using the substance.”In the development of that particular substance, close cooperation occurred between Wada and the pharmaceutical company Roche Pharmaceuticals so that there was a molecule placed in the substance well in advance that was always going to be able to be detected once a test was taken,” Fahey told public radio in his native country Australia.Nampa-AFP