Finally, some cyclists are standing up for themselves in the fight  for accountability from the anti-doping organizations and  the labs that conduct doping tests.

Ironically, the cyclists are from Spain, which became the epicenter of  the fight against doping with the doping enterprise known as Operacion Puerto that has scandalized professional cycling for the past few years.

Real Federacion Espanola de Ciclismo, the  Spanish cycling union, wants no part of the proposed “biological passport” without guarantees  about the legality and the science behind the testing: i.e. they don’t want their livelihoods threatened by the same system that produced so many errors in the Floyd Landis case. The union also calls for strict confidentially,  which is  on the books as a World Anti-Doping Agency requirement yet is so often breached with leaks that it’d be laughable if not for the damage it can do to cyclist’s career if he’s ultimately exonerated.

According to the Associated Press, the Spanish union’s statement said: “Before the implementation of a biological passport and whatever other new method used to detect (positive) tests, all legal and scientific guarantees must be demonstrated.”

This has been 10 Speed’s contention as well.  And it’s about time the cyclists are standing up for their rights. Yes, the fight against performance-enhancing drugs in cycling is necessary, and I think by and large, most of the cyclists are all for cleaning up their sport, because they see sponsors (and hence money) bolting so as not be associated with the doping scandals.

However, without stringent guidelines and adherence to testing procedures and World Anti-Doping protocol, the biological passport system will be as fraught with errors as demonstrated in the Landis case, which is still under appeal. Some cycling teams have initiated their own independent testing programs to build baseline data for the cyclists blood-chemistry, much like the UCI’s and WADA’s “biological passport” proposes to do. This is all well and good, especially for the teams to have independent data in the event that a cyclist gets Richard Kimbled by a lab or WADA.

What cycling really needs is a players’ union to fight for their rights and to also be a leader in the fight against doping.

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