UCI rejects Dutch anti-doping accord

The UCI has rejected the anti-doping accord set in place by the Dutch cycling federation, national anti-doping agency and the three Dutch WorldTour teams. The UCI said that the plan was presented under false pretences and will not be recognized.

Under the accord, riders and staff members would be required to submit signed statements and questionnaires concerning any doping they used or witnessed in the past. Anyone who was guilty of doping before 2008 would be given a six-month suspension, while anyone who doped after January 1, 2008, would be immediately dismissed.

When the plan was first announced in January, it was said that it had been co-ordinated with the UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency but in a letter sent this week, the UCI said that it had not been consulted and would not approve the plan.

The UCI retains the ultimate authority over suspensions, and saw the Dutch accord as an interference with a possible future Truth and Reconciliation process.

Herman Ram, head of the Dutch Anti-Doping Agency, said that the UCI's position was logical. “The UCI has sent a neat clean letter in which the relative positions of the doping problem are again set out. There is nothing wrong with that and that's nothing new."

Director Huub Kloosterhuis of the Royal Dutch Cycling Federation had no comment, saying “maybe later.”