EPO Positives – for the Good of Cycling

Cycling again made headlines in the world of sports today. Following some new test procedures,the anti-doping agencies are now going back to old samples and re-testing them. The riders caught out are two-time stage winner in this year’s Tour de France, Stefan Schumacher, and Italian cyclist Leonardo Piepoli, who also took a stage.

Both cyclists have been caught for using the banned substance CERA (Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator). So far, three riders from this year’s Tour have now tested positive for CERA; Ricco, Piepoli and Schumacher.

Now I’m sure you are asking – “why is this good for cycling?” Well, Cycling Weekly sums this up particularly well. Reporter Nigel Wynn writes:

…these latest Tour test results - Leonardo Piepoli and Stefan Schumacher’s positives for EPO variant CERA – are a sign that the sport is cleaning up, and not just from the obvious fact that two more dopers have been nicked.

How? I’d like to think that Piepoli and Schumacher – along with Riccardo Ricco, who failed the test for new EPO variant CERA during the Tour itself – are the dregs of the druggies. A last, tar-laden splutter from a smoker giving up on the fags and clearing their lungs of muck.

Sure, it’s painful that the name of cycling is again associated with drugs and doping, but it’s part of a long and drawn out process of wiping out the cheats. And it’s working.

What’s great is that this latest batch of positives has come from a test that wasn’t fully implemented during the event itself. The anti-doping agencies are now going back to old samples and re-testing them when new test techniques are developed.

No longer are the dopers one step ahead – the message is clear. You may think you’re getting away with it now, but what will happen in a few months’ time?

It should make riders who think they’ve got the latest undetectable super-drug think twice.

Teams now dismiss riders at the very whiff of a doping scandal. Event organisers and national federations are not scared of making sure positive riders are banned. Clean riders are unafraid to speak out.

What was needed is now happening – a shift in the culture of professional cycling as a whole.

I have to agree with that – a shift in the culture of professional cycling as a whole is now taking place. And I am in full support of it.

If you are in support of this change, then join the campaign being spearheaded by Cycling Weekly and Cycle Sport – I Support Drug Free Sport.

Saunier Duvall quit cycling

Following my posting on the 19th about Barloworld pulling their sponsorship from professional cycling, news has just come in that Saunier Duvall is also withdrawing its sponsorship in the sport.

Saunier Duvall, part of a German company specialising in domestic heaters and air conditioning units, has pulled out of cycling blaming the drug scandal that engulfed its team at the Tour de France. It acted after its Italian rider Riccardo Ricco failed a dope test on stage four, prompting the team to pull out of the race last week.

Both Ricco and his compatriot Leonardo Piepoli, who had won the prestigious Bastille Day stage but had not failed a dope test, were sacked last Friday.

A statement issued by Saunier Duval today confirmed: “This decision by the company was taken following the recent case of doping involving one of the team’s cyclists, Riccardo Ricco, and the suspicions against another cyclist.”

The news also represents a major blow for Spanish cycling, which will be left with just two Pro teams – Caisse d’Epargne and Euskaltel-Euskadi.

My only hope that this is the last team/sponsor to leave the sport because of the drug scandals. Another sad day indeed!