May 13, 2011 (Lausanne, Switzerland) – The International Union of Cyclists (UCI) was quick to respond today to an article about a “secret list” of suspected dopers as published in Friday’s edition of the French daily, l’Équipe. That article reveals how the UCI and other anti-doping authorities constructed an index of suspected doping for the 198 competitors in the 2010 Tour de France.

On a scale of 0-10, many cyclists scored zero, suggesting no circumstantial evidence of doping. Cyclists who scored higher on the index were subject to more scrutiny during the Tour. Canada’s Michael Barry received a zero ranking and Ryder Hesjedal received a ranking of one.

In its response, the UCI admits that there is such a list, but underlines that, “whatever the assessment of the appropriateness of testing a specific rider, the list does not justify any suspicion or condemnation.”

The UCI also points out that suspicion of doping is not the same as guilt and justifies the list “[because it enables] anti-doping tests to be targeted more effectively and therefore also enables the fight against doping as a whole to be enhanced.”

The report in l’Équipe notes that 25% of the peloton had indexes of zero. But 27 cyclists had an index higher than six and three of these placed in the top 20 of the 2010 TdF’s general classification. Individual cyclists were not named in the report, but l’Équipe did suggest that cyclists from France had the lowest indexes at the Tour.

Tour de France Director Christian Prudhomme, quoted in a subsequent l’Équipe article, called the index a ‘working list’ and claimed that cyclists should not be associated with suspicion because the sport is fighting doping.

There is an interesting relationship between l’Équipe and the TdF. The predecessor of l’Équipe, L’Auto, originated the Tour de France cycling stage race in 1903 as a means to boost newspaper circulation. Today l’Équipe is a daily newspaper devoted to sports and owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. Both l’Équipe and the TdF are thus owned by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) according to Wikipedia.

L’Équipe article (in French) here.
List of Riders here.
UCI Response here.