February 7, 2007 – Francois Parisien (Slipstream) is doing his part to fight doping according to Sportcom. The 2005 Canadian road champ is part of Colorado-based Slipstream Sports/ Chipotle (formerly TIAA-CREF) and the team is now working with the Agency for Cycling Ethics (ACE). Based in Los Angeles, ACE has former TdF cyclist (and critic of Lance Armstrong), Frankie Andreu on its Board of Advisors. ACE is independently monitoring bio-stable markers in the blood and urine of Slipstream riders together with power data collected to create profiles for each cyclist. While there can be considerable variation in these profiles between individuals, the profiles should remain stable over time for individual athletes.

To date, the 22 members of Slipstream have provided 1,400 urine and blood samples for the analysis. Slipstream will test its own cyclists some 50 times this season, looking at parameters such as the red blood cell count, growth hormones, testosterone, etc. Slipstream’s anti-doping program is expected to cost $500,000 US.

“We have to start somewhere (in the fight against doping) and I am very proud to be a guinea pig (in this effort) and to be able to say that I used my body to develop a new (anti-doping) system,” Parisien told Sportcom.

“The tests are done as much after big training sessions as during rest days, permitting an analysis of different data depending on how tired we are. If, during the season, a cyclist shows fluctuations outside of the normal range, he will be told to stop. And then he will be subjected to further tests, and again two weeks later, he will have other tests to see if the levels have come down,” added Parisien.

If there is something unusual about a cyclist’s tests, ACE will contact Slipstream Sports owner Jonathan Vaughters who will deal with the problem. If the cyclist continues to ride, ACE will then send the samples to the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

“We signed a contract stipulating that at the end of the season, our samples are sent to the USADA so that they can study them and build a data base,” explained Parisien, who added that other teams such as CSC and T-Mobile tend to use tests only to look for banned substances.

“Normally you can take EPO and get away with it because there is no trace after five days. With our system, anyone taking EPO will be found out.”

“In the long term, this will be good for sponsorships. But it’s also really good for us because we learn more about how our bodies work. And it’s good for cycling because we have found a new way to fight doping. We are the pioneers with this new test (program) that can be applied to other sports.”

Parisien is not currently cycling with the team because of tendonitis in his left knee. Although riding on a stationary bike, he will not be racing this springtime.

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