‘It struck us how Bugno victimised doping’
The International Cycling Union (UCI) hit back at Gianni Bugno today for his criticism of the biological passport anti-doping system.
Italian Bugno won the World Championships twice and the Giro d’Italia. With his experiences, he accepted the post as president of the Association of Professional Cyclists (CPA) eight months ago. On Tuesday, he told La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper that there needs to be changes to the biological passport and that it “gives no guarantees to anyone.”
The biological passport offers a way to signal doping without a traditional positive test. Scientists can plot blood and urine readings over time to be able to recognise irregularities. The International Cycling Union (UCI) used it to bust Italian Franco Pellizotti in May. Despite being recommended a two-year ban by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), the Italian anti-doping tribunal (TNA) acquitted Pellizotti in October.
Bugno sided with Pellizotti and accused the UCI of using “blackmail tactics.”
“Pellizotti is paying for the war he had and won against the UCI’s biological passport,” Bugno said. “The teams are not signing him because they are afraid of blackmail.”
Enrico Carpani, spokesman for the UCI, hit back.
“It struck us how Bugno victimised doping,” Carpani told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“The CPA seems to interpret its role as the defence office for cyclists, without any hint of self-criticism. He almost gives the impression that the issues depend on everything and everyone except the cyclists, focusing on the biological passport in particular.
“It seemed that everyone was anxious to see the work of the new method, to know the first names and first cases. But now that it has entered its active phase, it seems the biological passport was loved more in its early phases than when it shed light on certain cases. Then you hear Bugno say nothing works and everything has to be rethought. Yet nothing has changed except that now the theory is being put into practice.”
Bugno was involved in two different doping cases when he raced. He tested positive for caffeine in 1994 and served a three-month suspension. In a police investigation of Doctor Francesco Conconi in 1998, Bugno was listed as one of several cyclists who Conconi treated with blood booster EPO.
The UCI is pushing ahead with its anti-doping fight. Within the week, it plans to announce if it will appeal the TNA’s decision to acquit Pellizotti. If it appeals, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will rule on the case. In its hands it already has the case of Slovenian cyclist Tadej Valjavec, who was also found suspect under the biological passport and then acquitted by his national federation.