Slipstream Sports LLC and its chief venture, the Garmin-Slipstream Professional Cycling Team, isn’t just sporting a new name in 2009, when it will officially be called Garmin-Slipstream. The top U.S. team today announced that it will participate in a new program run by the Anti-Doping Sciences Institute (ADSI) to further its anti-doping mission. The program will include profiles from testing conducted over the last year and will share data with UCI and other international and national anti-doping agencies. ADSI has been involved in the management of the Garmin-Slipstream anti-doping program since June of 2008 as part of its previous relationship with the Agency for Cycling Ethics.
All 29 athletes on the team are voluntarily participating in the program, which will test them over 600 times in 2009. There will be an intense focus on EPO and related substances as well as continued focus on longitudinal profiling of blood and steroid levels. Detection of traditional doping products will also be included. Providing the oversight and program design for ADSI is Don Catlin, one of the leading names in anti doping in the United States.
“When we began our anti-doping program in 2007, we wanted to help turn the tide in professional cycling,” said Jonathan Vaughters, Director Sportif of Team Garmin-Slipstream (pictured right). “We wanted other professional athletes and teams to put their resources and efforts into the fight against doping. It worked. In 2009, we’re on a mission to continue what we started. With partners like ADSI and Don Catlin, we aim to continue to foster the ideals of fair sport.”
The testing program will be comprised of both blood and urine sampling and will focus on EPO, CERA and related drugs, but it will also include full screen testing for doping agents such as testosterone, cortisone, anabolic steroids, and masking agents. In addition, blood and steroid profiles will be used to detect longitudinal abnormalities and remove a rider from competition if suspicious results are found. Analytical work will be performed by Anti-Doping Research, under contract to ADSI, as well as other labs selected by ADSI. This combines the best of traditional testing and longitudinal testing into one program. By participating in this testing regimen, Garmin-Slipstream’s intention is to simply prevent any rider who could be doping from competing, and to continue to inspire fair sport.
“I have been involved in doping control for decades. When I developed the first anti-doping laboratory in the United States at UCLA in 1982, my hope was to prevent doping in sports and to work with teams and athletes who shared that hope,” said Don Catlin. “Team Garmin-Slipstream has proven that they do. I’m thrilled to be able to work with them.”
Team Garmin-Slipstream has been dedicated to anti-doping since its inception and the new Catlin program is an extension of its original intentions. It began participating in independent monitoring programs under the ACE model in 2007.
“We’re collaborating with Team Columbia on this effort with ADSI because we strongly believe that by working together, we can continue to help inspire fair sport,” said Vaughters. “Trust between teams and management is essential to success – on and off the road – and our fans and athletes alike deserve that trust.”