As if the seemingly ever-present rider scandals over doping allegation isn’t bad enough the pro sport now finds itself further mired after the French sports newspaper L’Equipe published a confidential list – known as the “doping suspicion index” – which had been compiled by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The list, which refers to the 2010 Tour de France, ranked each of the 198 competitors with a score from 0 to 10 with a ranking of 0 referring to the least suspicious level of drug involvement and 10 the highest. The UCI has announced an internal review to trace the source of the embarrassing leak, whilst the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has also pitched in with its own independent investigation.
UCI president Pat McQuaid published an open letter to both teams and riders on Tuesday (May 17) in which he states: “I am fully aware of the anger and strong reactions that the publication has generated and I can tell you that I was angry as well…It is essential to understand that this is not a list that indicates degrees of suspicion of doping, but a working document that establishes an order of priority for carrying out doping tests.” Several riders including Yaroslav Popovych (Team RadioShack) and Carlos Barredo (Rabobank), both of whom were listed as a maximum 10 by the UCI, have reacted quickly and angrily to their public humiliation, vehemently denying any drug involvement.
With a perhaps more positive note, it should be pointed out that of the 198 riders graded in the report, 156 were deemed to demonstrate “Little or no risk” of doping. So that’s okay then…