It’s got the ADAMS whereabouts system to facilitate out of competition testing, has a large emphasis on in-competition examinations and uses the biological passport as a long-running monitoring of riders. Now the UCI has added another element to its anti-doping campaign, with the focus on prevention rather than detection.
Entitled “True Champion or Cheat”, the new initiative was announced during the annual Congress held on September 25th in Lugano, Switzerland. It is aimed at riders of all levels plus their support personnel, and is compulsory for all those included in the UCI Registered Testing Pool (RTP).
All other riders are also encouraged to complete it, and the national federations will play a key role in facilitating this.
According to the UCI release, “the primary aim of the programme is to ensure riders fully understand their rights and responsibilities under the UCI Anti-Doping Rules and the World Anti-Doping Code, so that it will no longer be possible for them to claim ignorance of the rules.
“The development of the programme reflects the UCI’s belief that elimination of doping within cycling can be best achieved with a combination of strong testing and engaging education.”
The initiative is currently available in five languages and it is preferred that the riders complete it online so that this can be registered by the UCI plus their national federation. It is an interactive programme which is made up of eight video stories ten to fifteen minutes in length; participants are required to undertake quizzes and exercises and to interact with the actors.
It can be accessed directly from www.truechampionorcheat.org or from the UCI website at www.uci.ch. The programme is also available on a DVD for off-line completion.