Cycling Doping Report: Drug Taking Remains Widespread

Disgraced: An investigation in the wake of the Lance Armstrong ban has found doping remains widespread (Photo: EPA)

Doping in cycling remains widespread, with cheats exploiting grey areas, experimenting with designer drugs and becoming ever more sophisticated, according to the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) which published its highly anticipated report on Sunday night.

BBC/Telegraph/Perspicacious all report:

The 227-page document, commissioned by UCI President Brian Cookson as part of a push for transparency, and compiled by the fully independent panel over 13 months at an estimated cost of £3million, features one incredible claim from a "respected cycling professional" that 90 per cent of the peloton is still doping in one form or another today.

Although other riders interviewed under condition of anonymity reckon that figure to be far lower, the commission found that a typical response among those who testified, when asked about teams, was that "probably three or four [riders] were clean, three or four were doping, and the rest were a 'don't know'". 

The contents of the report, which also provides damning evidence that former UCI presidents Hein Verbruggen and Pat McQuaid were complicit in creating a doping culture in the 1990s and 2000s, will come as a blow to many in the sport who insist that cycling has turned a corner.

Many cycling will be alarmed to learn what the 174 anti-doping experts, officials, riders and other interested parties who gave interviews to CIRC have to say about the sport today:

• One "respected cycling professional" believes that 90% of the peloton is still doping, another put it at 20%

• Riders are micro-dosing, taking small but regular amounts of banned substance, to fool the latest detection methods

• The abuse of Therapeutic Use Exemptions, sick notes, is commonplace, with one rider saying 90% of these are used to boost performance

• The use of weight-loss drugs, experimental medicine and powerful painkillers is widespread, leading to eating disorders, depression and even crashes

• With doping done now on a more conservative basis, other forms of cheating are on the rise, particularly related to bikes and equipment

• Doping in amateur cycling is endemic

The €3m (£2.16m) report was compiled by chairman Dr Dick Marty, a former Swiss prosecutor, and two vice-chairs, German anti-doping expert Professor Ulrich Haas and Peter Nicholson, an Australian who has investigated international terrorism and war crimes.

Current UCI president Brian Cookson, who swept into office in 2013 promising a fresh start for an organization that had been badly damaged by its close links to Armstrong, thanked the panel for its work and did not try to sugar-coat its findings.