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UCI targeting suspicious riders

Test from some 'Men in Black' riders come back 'non-negative'

Published: Jun. 21, 2007

With the Tour de France just weeks away, there’s a high stakes game of cat and mouse between a half-dozen so-called suspect riders identified by the UCI and anti-doping testers.

Anne Gripper, director of the UCI’s anti-doping program, told the AFP that “six or seven” big-name riders have been subject to surprise out-of-competition controls which have yielded some“non-negative” results. Gripper added officials are waiting for the results of the second “B” sample before jumping to conclusions.

“We have targeted six, seven riders considered a high risk because of their suspicious behavior and because they could perform very well in the Tour de France,” Gripper told AFP. “Some have already had three or four surprise controls.”

Gripper said test results could be revealed before the July 7 start of the Tour in London.

“We are receiving the results and not all of them are negative,” she continued. “It will take time to know the complete results. We have to respect the process and wait for the ‘B’ samples before we can announce anything.”

Gripper said the UCI controllers have dubbed three of these riders as the “men in black” because they “train in anonymous jerseys rather than in team kits so that they can avoid the UCI controllers trying to make the surprise controls.”

The story prompted a press release from officials from the Astana team Thursday, which took offense at some insinuations in the European media.

The statement said if riders sometimes train in regular jerseys it’s because they don’t want to be bothered by cyclo-tourists, especially along France’s Cote d’Azur, and said that the team is conducting a training camp in the Pyrénées riding in Kazakh national jerseys.

“It’s not because they are trying to avoid something,” the statement said.

Riders are typically subjected to one surprise out-of-competition test per season, but UCI officials can order more if they suspect an athlete of dodgy behavior. The UCI has been known to target suspect riders with more rigorous anti-doping controls.

The revelations come on the heels of an intensified effort by the UCI to crack down on would-be cheaters.

On Tuesday, UCI president Pat McQuaid introduced an anti-doping “pledge” that riders will be asked to sign before the start of the Tour.

The one-page document asks riders to confirm they have not doped and that they are not involved in the Puerto doping scandal. The document would also ask riders’ approval to give DNA samples to be tested against some 200 bags of blood and plasma rounded up in Spanish police raids in May, 2006.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme announced Tuesday that riders not signing the declaration will doing something other than racing the Tour in July.