Cycling boss defends strategy to catch drug cheats

The head of cycling's governing body defended its pioneering anti-doping scheme on Friday from criticism that it cost too much and caught too few riders.

The International Cycling Union this week named five riders it suspected of doping among 840 professionals who have given samples to the biological passport project since it launched 18 months ago.

"It shows and proves to everybody that it actually works and that we do come up with results at the end of the day," UCI president Pat McQuaid told The Associated Press.

The UCI also won support on Friday for its anti-doping fight from International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge.

The five riders - three Spaniards and two Italians, the most established being 2003 road race world champion Igor Astarloa - face disciplinary cases from their national federations, who have been urged by the UCI to impose four-year bans.

But some among the 18 top-tier teams who each pay euro120,000 (NZ$267,133) a year toward the scheme's running costs have grumbled that they expected more for their money.

"I've seen some criticism from some team managers who ought to know better," McQuaid said. "They seemed to be expecting that the top 10 riders in the world were going to be caught in the first 10 cases.

"It is catching people who are fiddling around with their blood. Secondly, it is working as a wonderful deterrent."

The UCI itself pays 1 million Swiss francs ($NZ1.5 million) toward annual costs for the passport which sees riders - who also contribute from their prize money - give a total of 10,000 blood and urine samples each year to create individual body chemistry profiles.

Suspected doping is spotted in fluctuations from riders' known baseline levels as scientists search for evidence of drug use rather than identifying specific substances. Their analysis is presented to a UCI-appointed panel of nine experts who decide if the evidence can support a disciplinary case.

The UCI has delayed naming riders for several months to ensure that the first cases relying on passport evidence stand up to legal challenges.

McQuaid said more riders would be named though the UCI could take a different approach to suspicious cases before the Tour de France begins on July 4.

"I would consider speaking with the team about that rider - personally, confidentially. Then leave the team to decide what to do," he said. "To protect the Tour de France I would do that."

In an address to the UCI management board meeting at IOC headquarters, Rogge said cycling's work to establish the biological passport was "truly remarkable."

The project, which was created with the World Anti-Doping Agency, was intended to become a model for other sports.

McQuaid said relations between the UCI and IOC had improved since doping scandals led some within the Olympic movement to question cycling's place at the games.

Two cyclists still face sanctions from the IOC after testing positive for CERA, the latest generation of the blood-boosting hormone EPO, in samples taken at the Beijing Games last year.

Italy's Davide Rebellin, who won silver in the men's road race, and Stefan Schumacher of Germany are expected to face an IOC disciplinary board in July.

AP