French anti-doping boss Bordry dismisses Tour drug testing

Jun 8, 2010, 13:21 GMT

Mainz, Germany - French anti-doping chief Pierre Bordry has dismissed doping tests at the upcoming Tour de France as predictable and inefficient.

Bordry told the Frontal 21 programme of German ZDF network, made available to German Press Agency dpa ahead of Tuesday night's broadcast, that the ruling cycling body UCI was not doing a good job.

'They (the tests) are organized in such a way that the riders know about them beforehand,' he said, dismissing the effectiveness of anti-doping testing at the July race.

'There are not enough target tests and out-of-competition tests so that Someone who wants to dope knows the system perfectly well.'

Bordry also reiterated that the UCI is not passing on to his French body AFLD whereabouts data of riders who are training in France ahead of the Tour, a problem that also existed last year.

While several prominent riders were caught doping at the 2008 Tour when the ADFL carried out the tests, there were no positive tests at the 2009 edition when the UCI was in charge of testing.

The 2010 Tour starts on July 3 in Rotterdam.

German anti-doping agency boss Armin Baumert also criticised the UCI in the ZDF programme, saying that 'A lot must happen to be more credible than now.'

Baumert called on the UCI to let independent agencies carry out drug tests, but UCI boss Pat McQuaid told ZDF that this was not possible under UCi rules.