March 6/08 1:22 am - UCI Announces Formation of Anti-doping Foundation

Posted by Editor on 03/6/08
 

UCI Announces Formation of Anti-doping Foundation
Courtesy UCI

The new UCI Anti-Doping Foundation, the creation of which was approved in principle by the UCI Management Committee at its most recent meeting, in Treviso in January, was formally constituted today.

The Foundation, which was set up under Swiss legislation, will be overseen by a Foundation Board chaired by Pat McQuaid, and comprising Messrs Peder Pedersen (Denmark), Daniel Baal (France), Artur Lopes (Portugal) and George Ruijsch Van Dugteren (South Africa), all designated by the UCI, The running of the Foundation will be supervised by the Swiss authorities.

The main aim of the UCI Anti-Doping Foundation is to increase the resources available to the anti-doping campaign, and to optimise the practical and scientific aspects of the UCI's anti-doping activities by developing new synergies. The introduction of the biological passport, which now complements the range of anti-doping actions undertaken by the UCI, was the driving force for this initiative, which will open new avenues for our Federation to pursue.

In order to guarantee the greatest possible transparency in the management of the budget allocated to the Foundation (over EUR 5 million per year), parties that make a financial contribution will be represented on a contributors' committee. They will have right of inspection over the use of the funds collected. This committee, chaired by Daniel Baal, will include representatives of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), organisers, teams, riders and other parties.

The UCI Anti-Doping Foundation will have its headquarters at the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland. Ms Anne Gripper, currently Manager of the UCI Anti-Doping Department, will coordinate its activities, assisted by seven full-time members of staff.

Following the formal constitution of the Foundation, the Foundation Board held its first meeting and heard a progress report on the 2007 "100% against doping" programme, which has targets measured from 1 April 2007 to 1 April 2008. As of the end of 2007, three quarters of the scheduled tests had been carried out: 4,367 in-competition tests and 1,077 out-of-competition tests. The results detected under this programme will be added to those of the biological passport as from 1 January 2008. Introduction of the biological passport has resulted in an increase in the number of controls planned under the "100% against doping" programme.

The UCI is pleased to announce that the various stages in the implementation of the biological passport are going ahead on schedule. To date, 464 unannounced out-of-competition tests have been conducted (out of a total of 911 tests of all kinds).

By the end of April, 2,000 tests will have been carried out. This figure will rise to around 4,000 by the end of June.

To date, riders from 14 teams are providing information on their whereabouts under the ADAMS programme (Anti-Doping Administration & Management System). This procedure has now been streamlined by the introduction of a new SMS update function.

The best experts in the field have agreed to sit on the panel responsible for interpreting the riders' profiles.

The UCI is happy to note that cooperation with the UCI ProTeams and continental professional teams in the implementation of the biological passport has been excellent.

The success of this programme, which was driven largely by the UCI, demonstrates once again cycling's resolute opposition to the scourge of doping.