A little over two weeks after the conclusions of the WorldTour event, the UCI has announced in a brief message that all of the doping controls carried out at Paris-Nice were negative.
Rumour of a possible positive at the race circulated on Twitter last week but this has proved to be unfounded, with all riders declared clear.
The UCI and the AFLD collaborated for the race, ending a long period of tension between them. A total of 120 tests were scheduled to be carried out at the WorldTour event. These comprised 70 tests carried out between March 6th and 13th, with the AFLD collecting and analysing these, as well as approximately 50 biological passport blood samples conducted by the UCI. The latter were to be used for targeting.
The all-clear is a positive sign for the sport, especially given the level of testing at the race.
Equally significant is the fact that the collaboration went well. “The misunderstandings which had troubled relations between the UCI and AFLD are now in the past,” said AFLD president Bruno Genevois prior to the race. “We are extremely happy to be able to work alongside AFLD once again, in a calm atmosphere where we have restored confidence in each other.”
Post-race, McQuaid told VeloNation in mid-March that he was pleased with how things turned out. “We are certainly happy with it. What is more important is that the reports we are hearing from them and the guys on the ground was that it worked extremely well,” he said.
Twelve months ago there was a very obvious tension between the UCI and the AFLD after the governing body refused to allow the latter to work on the event. It took a WADA appeal to enable the AFLD to have a part in the Tour de France anti-doping procedures, but things have improved since Genevois took over in October.
Given that things went smoothly on Paris-Nice, it appears increasingly likely that both the UCI and the AFLD could work together on this year’s Tour de France.
German rider Tony Martin won the 2011 edition of Paris-Nice, taking his best victory to date.