Tour to be "most tested sporting event in history," UCI chief says

Paris - The 2009 Tour de France will probably be the sporting event with the most doping tests 'in history,' International Cycling Union (UCI) head Pat McQuaid said Wednesday in Paris. McQuaid said eight to 12 riders would be tested after each of the Tour's 21 stages, and two blood samples would be taken on opening day from each of the 180 riders who start the race on July 4. Each of the 300 riders currently eligible to start the Tour will be tested 'between now and July 4' because the teams do not decide until the final days who will actually ride in the race. In addition, a group of 50 riders has been singled out for special attention, McQuaid said. 'These 50 will get extra testing and more detailed testing,' he added. Among the targeted 50 riders are those considered favourites to win the race or a stage, and some riders who have aroused suspicion. 'Many samples (taken in the Tour) will be stored for future analysis,' McQuaid said, in case riders used substances that can only be detected after a certain period of time has passed. Retests of 2008 Tour samples, after a reliable test method was introduced, led to several positive doping tests for a new generation of the blood booster EPO, known as CERA. Drug offenders included the original third-place finisher Bernhard Kohl of Austria. McQuaid also said that the UCI would publish a list of riders next week whose so-called biological passports revealed suspicious information. A biological passport is an electronic record for each rider in which the results of all doping tests over a period of time are collected. It contains results of urine and blood tests, a haematological profile taken from a series of blood samples and a steroid profile consisting of the combined results of steroid levels in a series of urine samples. Although the UCI head said that disciplinary action would be taken against these riders, it would not be done by his organization. 'We have no regulations that permit us to suspend a rider based on information from his biological passport,' McQuaid said. 'We will encourage their teams not to let them ride. Or the race organizers can act.' The Tour de France has been rocked by a number of high-profile doping scandals over the past few years, including the disqualification of the winner of the 2006 race, Floyd Landis, for the use of testosterone.