July 24, 2013 (Paris, France) – Today the French senate released a 237-page report on the fight against doping in which retroactive positive tests for EPO are revealed for many of the top names in cycling reports Le Monde, Reuters and others. Some of those named had traces of EPO in their urine while others produced “suspicious” results. The names come primarily from the 1998 Tour de France and include the likes of Axel Merckx, Marco Pantani, and Jan Ullrich.

In its response the UCI claims cycling has been transformed and offers the most sophisticated anti-doping infrastructure in world sport. Further the retroactive testing of the 1998 Tour riders’ samples “…was carried out by the French laboratory as scientific research and not according to technical standards for anti-doping analyses. In addition, the principles of anonymity and prior consent from the riders for scientific analyses were not respected. The results therefore could not be accepted as valid proof in an anti-doping context – and the UCI could not open retrospective disciplinary proceedings.” – see the full response below.

In no apparent order, the list of those detected with EPO in their system includes Erik Zabel, Jens Heppner, Volo Bolts, Mario Cipolloni, Andrea Tafi, Fabio Sacchi, Nicola Minali, Eddy Mazzoleni, Alain Turicchia, Ermanno Brignoli, Laurent Jalabert, Marcos Serrano, Manuel Beltran, Abraham Olano, Jeroen Blijlevens, Tom Steels, Bo Hamburger, Pascal Chanteur, and Kevin Livingston.

Those returning suspicious results – again in no particular order – include: Ermanno Brignoli, Alain Turicchia, Pascal Chanteur, Frederic Moncassin, Bobby Julich, Roland Meier, Giuseppe Calcaterra, Stefano Zanini, Eddy Mazzoleni, Stephane Barthe, Stuart O’Grady, and Axel Merckx

Since the publication of his name, O’Grady has apparently confessed to Australian media.

The tests were carried out at the French anti-doping laboratory in Châtenay-Malabry and the results apparently date from 2004. It is unclear why this information was not released earlier.

The reverberations from this report are expected to be felt in coming days. It is important to specify that the French senate report did not single out cycling – other sports, such as football (soccer) were also named – and no results would be stripped as a result of their report.

Reuters here.
Le Monde (French) here.
French Senate website here.

UCI Statement on French Senate Report

In recent years, cycling has been totally transformed. It is now possible to race and win clean and there is a new culture within the peloton where riders support and believe in clean cycling. Cycling now has the most sophisticated and effective anti-doping infrastructure in world sport. Today, cycling leads the way in the fight against doping in sport.

In view of the revelations that were made over the past year it has become clear that in the late 1990s and early 2000s, many riders made bad choices during a very bad period for cycling

It is apparently in this context that the report, part of a French Senate inquiry on how effective the fight against doping has been in France, refers to the retesting of samples taken during the 1998 Tour de France.

The UCI as well as other anti-doping organizations have all been aware of the fact that samples from the 1998 Tour de France were retested in 2004 for the purpose of a research programme. Since 2005, it has also been known that according to these research results a number of samples contained EPO.

The retroactive testing of the 1998 Tour riders’ samples was carried out by the French laboratory as scientific research and not according to technical standards for anti-doping analyses. In addition, the principles of anonymity and prior consent from the riders for scientific analyses were not respected. The results therefore could not be accepted as valid proof in an anti-doping context – and the UCI could not open retrospective disciplinary proceedings.

As it was not possible to prove that the riders concerned had doped and no B-analysis was available as a defense, the UCI considered it was not appropriate to disclose their names.

In 1998, there was no test that could detect the use of EPO. The urinary EPO test was pioneered by the UCI and introduced in 2001. Today, cycling is ranked top out of all IFs in the number of out-of-completion tests it carries out.  Last year, the UCI carried out a total of 14,168 anti-doping tests. This included 7,558 in-competition tests and 6,610 out-of-competition tests. Of these, 5,218 tests were carried out for the UCI’s blood passport program.

Having made the above remarks UCI will study carefully the 60 proposals put forward by the report of the French Senate with a view to implementing those which can improve further the fight against doping

This year the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF) and the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) stepped up cooperation, efficiently combining expertise and resources to conduct anti-doping tests at the major races held in France, including the Tour de France. The high quality of the CADF’s work has been recognized independently recently when it received ISO certification.

Many of our most respected top riders have all been strong public voices in confirming that today’s cycling has cleaned itself up.