The UCI announces further anti-doping measures following CIRC report and recommendations

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has today announced a number of measures to further strengthen anti-doping and governance following a careful analysis of the Cycling Independent ReformCommission (CIRC) report and recommendations published earlier this week. They build on a raft ofreforms that have been put in place since Brian Cookson became UCI President in September 2013.

Commenting on the new measures announced today, UCI President Brian Cookson said:

"I am absolutely determined to use the CIRC’s report to ensure that cycling continues the process offully regaining the trust of fans, broadcasters and all the riders who compete clean. We value therecommendations of the CIRC and have now established an internal task force to ensure therecommendations are properly followed up. In the meantime, I can already confirm that we will:

• Work to enshrine a fit-and-proper-persons requirement in the team licensing process, focussed on

the key roles in the staff, such as sports directors and doctors;

• Work with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and other experts to analyse new substances

and trends, to assess what should be added to the prohibited or monitored lists;

• Work with WADA to improve the speed of athlete biological passport cases;

• Further build on the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF)’s move towards even higher quality

and more targeted approach to anti-doping that reflects rider and discipline risk assessment;

• Work with the world’s leading laboratories to undertake a prevalence study to assess the current

situation and compare it with data from previous years across disciplines and nations. This study

will assist in targeting and also build a clear picture of how successful anti-doping measures in

cycling have been;

• Ensure that the CADF work more closely with civil and criminal authorities and others such as

customs through a newly recruited Intelligence Manager, in order to guarantee that information

gathered in investigations is shared as effectively as possible;

• Actively pursue the conclusion of sharing agreements with National Anti-Doping Agencies

(NADOs) to ensure that we collaborate as closely as possible with others involved in working for a

clean sport;

• Re-launch our whistleblower programme, through an independent agency, in support of the 2015

World Anti-Doping Code which places a duty on riders and team staff to report any circumstances

they become aware of that may constitute an anti-doping rule violation;

• Build on our existing collaboration through WADA with the pharmaceutical industry to monitor new

developments and assist in identifying banned substances and methods;

• Work with WADA to support athlete education programmes and ensure that current and former

riders play an active part in them;

• Work with the CADF to build a more robust and comprehensive storage and re-testing strategy;

• Encourage the CADF to order night-time testing where they believe it is necessary and

proportionate.

"The new set of measures will build on the significant changes that have been put in place since Ibecame UCI President in September 2013. During this time, the UCI has undergone a fullindependent audit of its anti-doping operations. We have established a strict internal governanceprocess to ensure that the President or administration cannot interfere in operational anti-dopingmatters and that all major case decisions are reviewed externally and a full audit trail is retained toensure total accountability.

"We have reinvigorated our Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) Committee and now all TUE decisionsmust be unanimously approved by three members. This commitment goes beyond what is required bythe International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions (ISTUE). We have ended conflicts with keystakeholders and established strong working relationship with WADA, and the major NADOs, includingthe US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). We have established an Anti-Doping Tribunal that will allowconsistent, clear and efficient decisions on cases for international riders, putting the UCI in line withalmost all other International Federations and ending the process whereby cases were referred to therider’s National Federation for judgement.

"We have introduced far reaching sanctions on teams with two members in a year who are found tohave doped - including suspension from competition plus a fine of 5% of the team budget. Suchsanctions go beyond the mandatory sanctions provided for by the World Anti-Doping Code. I haveensured that more staffing and resources have been allocated to anti-doping than ever before. Wehave also worked with the professional teams and independent experts to establish clear new internaloperational requirements for teams (the "cahier des charges") to ensure that all riders are properlysupported and supervised and that the necessary structures are in place to prevent riders doping.

"Our efforts over the past 18 months have also been invested in the establishment of important newgovernance measures including a reinvigorated Ethics Commission and a process of revising andupdating the UCI Constitution in order to improve transparency of the UCI at all levels. In particular,this revision process concerns the UCI Presidential election which clearly needs significantimprovement and I strongly believe we should implement a more representative electoral system.

"These significant measures, together with the developments I have announced today, show theabsolute commitment I and my UCI colleagues have to ensure riders win clean and that the minoritywho choose to cheat are caught and face severe sanctions after fair and fast disciplinary proceedingsin full respect of due process. They also demonstrate that the UCI is now a very different organisationcompared to even a few years ago and that we make sure lessons are learnt and mistakes notrepeated. As I predicted, the CIRC report made for uncomfortable reading but it is imperative that wedo not shy away from tough decisions. We will continue to focus on rebuilding trust in our great sportthat touches the lives of millions of people across the world, and I appeal to everyone in the sport to

take their responsibilities at this pivotal moment." Union Cycliste Internationale

For more information:

Louis Chenaille

UCI Press Officer

+41 79 198 70 47

louis.chenaille@uci.ch

John Zerafa

VERO Communications

+44 7813 814 816

jzerafa@verocom.co.uk

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