March 17/11 17:39 pm - UCI Discusses Increasing Doping Ban

Posted by Editor on 03/17/11
 

The CCP (Professional Cycling Council) met today in Milan, prior to Saturday's Milan-San Remo, the first of the Spring Classics. Despite the absence of members of the AIGCP (International Association of Professional Cycling Groups) - who did not attending the meeting due to their continuing battle with the UCI over the use of race radios (see Daily News Pro Teams to Boycott Event Over Radio Ban) - there were a number of initiatives discussed:

• Four year bans for first time serious offenses, such as positives for EPO, Human Growth Hormones (HGH) or blood transfusions

• potential penalties or sanctions for teams that hire riders returning from doping bans, or that employ riders that are found to be doping

• A revision of the rules to recognize cases of contamination or involuntary use of banned substances (such as has been argued by Tour de France winner Alberto Contador)

• Improvements to the Biological Passport Program to reduce cases where innocent athletes could be falsely accused due to anomalous readings

At this point, all of these proposals are only being discussed.