The past year has seen an acceleration in the fight against the use of performance-enhancing substances, with the Operación Puerto and the Floyd Landis cases acting as a major catalyst. Australian Anne Gripper has been involved in co-ordinating the UCI's anti-doping measures and talked to Cyclingnews' Shane Stokes about the issue.
Since beginning with the UCI on October 17 last year, Gripper has been involved with a number of important introductions to the governing body's anti-doping programme. She played an important role in the 100% Against Doping programme launched earlier this year, a project to greatly increase the amount and sophistication of in-and out-of-competition tests. Gripper was also involved in the Rider's Commitment for a New Cycling initiative, whereby riders were asked to sign a pledge that they were not in any way involved with Operación Puerto or any other doping cases, agreed to give a DNA sample if required, and undertook to pay a year's salary if they tested positive or were otherwise implicated in doping.
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