CYCLING:What is set to be the toughest anti-doping programme in sport will be launched today by the UCI in Paris. In a measure to severely limit the possibilities of cheating by its athletes, cycling's governing body will unveil a package of measures which exceed those which Wada requires of all Olympic sports.
Entitled "100% per cent Against Doping", the extensive programme will be unveiled at the Maison de l'Amérique Latine in the French capital. Although little is known about what it will entail, strong rumours have suggested that blood volume testing (to stop the use of performance boosting through transfusions) and an examination for human growth hormone will be among the measures.
Compulsory DNA testing may also be involved. This would be used in the case of a scandal such as Operacion Puerto, when bags of stored blood were seized by police. If DNA samples were provided by riders, it would enable matches to be made.
UCI president Pat McQuaid confirmed recently that the cost of the programme would be spread between different bodies within the sport. "All of the stakeholders in the ProTour will be funding it," he told The Irish Times. "The teams, the riders, the organisers and the UCI. They will all be contributing.
"This is on top of the anti-doping measures already in place; this is purely a ProTour programme aimed at the teams and riders of the ProTour and those outside (continental professional teams) who would possibly ride some ProTour events."
It is unknown whether Monday's crisis meeting with the organisers of the Tours of Italy, Spain and France has changed anything as regards the financing of the project. There, the three Grand Tour organisers said they would co-operate with the UCI after months of bitter fighting, but stopped short of saying they were part of the ProTour series brought in by the governing body.
A press release issued by the UCI on Tuesday said that many personalities from the cycling and sports world would be participating in the launch. It also stated that McQuaid will "present his vision of the 2007 cycling season, following the meeting between the UCI, IPCT and the organisers of the Major Tours".
FIXTURES
Today: Irish inter-collegiate championships, Nutt's Corner. Tomorrow: Mick Lally Memorial, Batterstown, starts 10am; Surgenor Cup, Randalstown, starts 11am. Sunday: KC Capital Cup (E2 MTB event), Kilruddery, Bray, noon; Newbridge Credit Union GP, starts Milltown, Kildare, 12.30 pm; Connacht RR series round four, Father Sammon Community Centre, Monivea, noon; John Haldane Memorial, Hilltown GAA Club, noon; Mick Cahill Memorial, Banteer, 1pm.
