UCI to bar riders who dope from moving into team management

Riders found guilty of a doping offence are to be barred from taking on a role in team management once their racing careers are over as a result of a new rule being introduced by the UCI with effect from 1 July.

While the measure will not be applied retrospectively, meaning that those currently in team management positions who were sanctioned during their own careers can carry on working, it will be welcomed by anti-doping campaigners as an important step in combating the culture of doping within cycling by breaking the chain that sees the habits of one generation passed on to the next.

The new article to the UCI regulations was approved at the Maastricht meeting of the governing body’s Management Committee, and aims “to prevent anyone found guilty of infringing the Anti-Doping Regulation during his cycling career from obtaining a licence authorising him to take on a role in cycling as a member of a team’s staff.”

The UCI Management Committee said in a statement that it is “fully aware of the difficulties that the adoption of such a measure could imply, but wishes to once again reconfirm its determination to take all steps possible to oppose any form of illegal practice in our sport.”

The statement continued: “As education and prevention are the backbones of the UCI’s anti-doping policy, the ability to act on the riders’ entourage, particularly the younger members, is consequently one of the strategic priorities for the future.”

The Management Committee also ratified the Professional Cycling Council’s proposal earlier this week that riders coming back from a ban of two years or more will not be able to contribute towards their team’s world ranking points total for a period of two years after their return to the sport.

New regulations to create an intra-season transfer window, first announced earlier this week, were also approved.

The UCI also confirmed that Christophe Hubschmid from Switzerland will replace France’s Jean-Pierre Strebel as Director-General. The latter steps down after 18 years but will continue to act as president of the World Cycling Centre Foundation as well as carrying on his roles in the UCI Anti-Doping Foundation and Global Cycling Promotion.

The governing body has also given its backing to a new event starting in November 2012 to be called the UCI World Cycling Forum, which it says “will allow for the creation of an ideal platform for everyone involved in the cycling world and will offer the unique opportunity to meet with the UCI and all its partners – such as industry representatives, sponsors, public authorities and media.”