October 24, 2003 – Information is given from the UCI's Anti-doping Commission that analysis of all urine samples taken during the Hamilton World Championships (except for four samples concerning junior category riders) sent to the Montreal lab for classic tests and Lausanne for EPO and NESP research, have been completed.

This sharing of tasks was necessary due to the fact that the Canadian lab does not yet have the competence to detect the mentioned substances.

All results of these controls are negative.

Following the various and most regrettable speculations from part of the press, as well as the premature judgments expressed towards the riders submitted to out-of-competition testing, the Commission would like to remind the following:

– Only part of the out-of-competition controls are decided on the basis of blood examination results, the Commission reserving the right to add riders to the list as it wants;

– Taking into account the strict confidentiality of the procedures, it is absolutely impossible to establish a direct connection between the names of riders submitted to out-of-competition testing and the motives of these controls;

– The Commission would also like to confirm its trust in UCI officials to whom certain journalists have falsely attributed the divulgation of this confidential information.