October 16, 2007 — An article on the French language cycling blog, La Flamme Rouge, this past Thursday claimed that three Canadians are on a UCI “watch list” for doping and cited a Radio-Canada radio report as the source. We have not been able to verify the radio report and Flamme Rouge indicated that a transcript is not available on the Radio-Canada website.

The UCI Registered Testing Pool in fact lists four Canadians – Lyne Bessette, Gina Grain, Dominique Perras, and Marie-Hélène Prémont. A total of 276 riders from 48 countries appear on the list as part of the UCI’s ongoing anti-doping procedures. While the list includes some confessed or convicted dopers, such as Jorg Jakshe, Floyd Landis and Erik Zabel, there is no indication regarding the status of any of the riders listed. (click here for the list).

FQSC Director General, Louis Barbeau, who is also the President of the UCI Para-cycling Commission, claims in the Flamme Rouge article that none of Canada’s riders have done anything wrong and are not under suspicion, adding that the UCI should have separate Testing Pool lists so rider designation is clearer and avoids any confusion. We contacted Barbeau directly for his comments on this.

“None of these athletes is suspected of any wrong doing or considered at risk. Their names appear only because of their (performance) rankings. In the UCI section, things should be clearer,” states Barbeau.

“They are not suspected dopers. They are on a list of athletes that are being controlled either because of their performances, their rankings or because they are considered at risk. What is lacking in my opinion is that rider rankings or performances that are taken into account should have been listed on the UCI website in the section for anti-doping. To my knowledge, they are not listed there.”

“Specifically, in the case of the four Canadian athletes, their names are listed there for the following reasons: Lyne Bessette (UCI cyclocross rankings), Dominique Perras (UCI Oceanic Regional Road rankings), Marie-Hélène Prémont (medalist at MTB Worlds and MTB rankings), Gina Grain (scratch medalist at Track Worlds).”

The UCI states the following on its Registered Testing Pool section:

“The UCI establishes and maintains a Registered Testing Pool of riders from all disciplines who are required to be available for out-of-competition testing and who must submit individual whereabouts information every three months.”

“Riders are selected for inclusion in the Registered Testing Pool each year, based on their performances, rankings and participation in cycling disciplines.”

“Riders are informed of their responsibility to provide and keep their whereabouts information updated. Failing to provide accurate whereabouts information or failing to be available for testing at a nominated location on three occasions during 18 months may result in an anti-doping rule violation under Article 15.4 of the UCI Anti-Doping Rules.”

The countries with the most cyclists on this list are Spain (55 cyclists), Italy (33), and Germany (20). Australia has ten whereas the USA has nine and Canada has four.

The UCI conducted 8,253 doping tests in 2006 (all types and all disciplines) and so far has conducted 9,590 in 2007. Lists are also provided at the UCI site of riders facing doping sanctions as a result of tests or confessions, including 24 cyclists in 2007 and 44 in 2006. Spanish cyclists dominate these with nine facing sanctions in 2006 and six in 2007. No Canadians feature on either of these lists although presumably Geneviève Jeanson and Chris Sheppard will appear on the 2005 list (not shown on the UCI site).

The greatest number of infractions (4) in 2007 was for overuse of salbutamol, an asthma medication. Two riders on the 2007 list simply failed to comply with tests and a Polish cyclist was busted for cannabis (marijuana).

Click here for Flamme Rouge article where all info is in French.