Anti-Doping Anarchy?

The UCI, in what could be a direct challenge to WADA’s anti-doping hegemony, plans to implement a new anti-doping program for ProTour teams starting on March 9th.

Very little is known about the UCI’s new program, according to an article by Shane Stokes published on cyclingnews.com, other than it is slated to begin two days before the Paris-Nice race (from which the UCI has banned all ProTour teams). Cycling News does offer this tidbit:

Two of the procedures which are believed to be part of the programme are blood volume testing and examination for traces of growth hormone. Unconfirmed rumours are circulating that ProTour teams will be asked to each contribute €30,000 [approximately $39,600] towards the cost of the programme, with race organisers and Continental Professional teams also required to pay a sum.

The article quotes Pat McQuaid as saying:

“This is on top of the anti-doping measures already in place; this is purely a ProTour programme aimed at the teams and riders of the ProTour and those outside [Continental Professional teams] that who would possibly ride some ProTour events.”

Perhaps, as McQuaid says, this is meant to be an adjunct to WADA’s current system, but the development is not exactly a vote of confidence in the anti-doping measures currently in place. It’s one thing for individual teams to implement their own programs as a result of real or perceived pressure from their sponsors. It’s quite another for an international governing body, one that readily signed on to the World Anti-Doping Code, to implement their own program. Especially one that is being put together in the dark, without those who will be most affected by it — the riders — having an opportunity to participate in the program’s design or structure.

The information about this new program is sketchy, perhaps purposely so. If this is really meant to be a challenge to WADA, the UCI won’t want that to become apparent until after the program is under way.

The prospect of yet another anti-doping regime raises a number of questions. To start: What, exactly, is the UCI trying to accomplish? Who will be conducting the tests? What process will be in place to handle cases where a rider’s sample returns a positive result? What rights will the athletes and the teams have under such a program? And, where does the current anti-doping system fit in with the UCI’s program or vice-versa?

By creating this program in a secretive manner, teams and athletes could be forced into a position where they are expected to sign on without knowing what they are signing on to.

Granted, the scandals of 2006 have left a number of teams scrambling for cover. But the teams implementing their own programs can hardly be blamed. They’re just looking to reassure nervous sponsors who have committed large sums of money to support the teams.

The UCI is either scrambling for cover or launching a frontal assault on WADA’s established program. And yet, while WADA’s anti-doping program certainly needs an overhaul — especially when it comes to athlete’s rights — somehow, I don’t think that the UCI’s new program is part of the solution.

Instead, the UCI has an obligation to try and fix WADA’s program from the inside. By starting up their own program, they are saying, “We don’t have faith in WADA’s program and we’re going to go off on our own.” If other sports federations do the same, we will have a state of anti-doping anarchy as everyone goes it alone, with no consistent rules or procedures. And in that case, everyone suffers.

Sure, the temptation on each organization’s part, especially as new doping scandals pile on top of the ones already occurring, is to try and do what they can to make sure they’re perceived as “fixing” things. But what it takes is for all the groups to band together and demand changes to WADA’s program, not for groups to go off and do their own thing.

While the current anti-doping system has its problems, the idea of a centralized, consistent system is a good thing. But the system, itself, needs fixing. Running away to start one’s own program does nothing to fix the mess. It just leads to the possibility of making the mess bigger.

This appears to be yet another ham-fisted effort by the UCI to wrest power and authority from other groups, just as they are doing to the Grand Tours. All the competing forces within professional cycling seem more intent on tearing things apart, rather than making things better.

It’s time for the organizations working to eliminate doping in sports to stop fighting one another and start building a real future, and the UCI should start by working with all the groups within cycling (as well as WADA) to bring about positive change. The future of professional cycling depends on it.