Aigle, Switzerland, July 4th, 2018 – Today, the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF), the independent organisation mandated by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to define and manage the fight against doping in cycling, announced its strategy for the 2018 Tour de France starting on Saturday 7th July, which will be implemented in close cooperation with the Agence Française de Lutte contre le Dopage (AFLD), the National Anti-Doping Organisation of France.
The CADF anti-doping strategy includes the following components:
Before the race:
Riders competing in the Tour de France are included in the Register Testing Pool (which counts more than 1000 riders) and are part of the Athlete Biological Passport programme, meaning that they are tested during their entire career following a testing plan based on the WADA Risk Assessment criteria.
During the race:
Decision as to which riders have to be tested will be jointly taken by the CADF and the AFLD, based on shared information. An average of 8 tests will be carried out every day.
Tests can be performed at the finish line, early in the morning and late in the evening in the hotels. Except the leader (yellow jersey) and the winner of the stage, who are systematically tested at the finish line, the other riders to test, the location and the matrix (blood and/or urine) are decided on a daily basis by the CADF, in collaboration with the AFLD.
After the race:
Samples will be stored for 10 years and can be reanalyzed at any time (new substances identified, new methods of detection, intelligence gathering).
Finally, the intelligence sharing activities between the CADF, the AFLD, and the French authority OCLAESP (Central office for combatting damage to the environment and public) will continue again this year. Any supplementary information gathered will be used by the CADF to design the daily strategy of testing.
For more information, please contact:
– CADF: Christophe Lécureuil: +41 78 627 7475 / [email protected]
– AFLD: Catherine Coley: +33 (0)1 40 62 76 83 / [email protected]
– UCI: Louis Chenaille, UCI Press Officer : +41 79 198 7047 / [email protected]
