The French l’Equipe newspaper has leaked a list drawn up by the UCI, which catalogued an estimation of the doping ‘risk’ of each rider in last year’s Tour de France, Ranking the riders from zero [no suspicion] to ten [very suspicious], each rider who took part in the race was indexed according to their biological passport information and a control taken on July 1st, the day before the start of the Tour.
The data was shared between the UCI and WADA in order to target riders for additional testing and closer scrutiny during the race. According to l’Equipe, a high ranking did not prove that a rider had taken banned substances, as issues such as illness can affect the levels. It also pointed out that none of those with a high rating of suspicion tested positive, nor have they been sanctioned under the biological passport.
As a result, the list should be viewed for what it is; a document helping to steer testing, rather than one which in itself determines wrongdoing.
According to the list, those who were deemed most worth of additional scrutiny were Carlos Barredo and Yaroslav Popovych, each ranked 10/10. One point below was Denis Menchov, while those on 8/10 were David de La Fuente, Jose Ivan Gutierrez, Danilo Hondo, Matthew Lloyd, Iban Mayoz, David Muravyev, Rinaldo Nocentini, Daniel Oss, Kevin Seeldrayers, Konstantin Siutsou and Jurgen Van den Broeck.
Jeremy Hunt, Andreas Kloden, Tony Martin, Christophe Moreau, Michael Rogers and Wesley Sulzberger were ranked 7/10 on the scale, one level above Linus Gerdemann, Christian Knees, Egoi Martinez, Francesco Reda, Alessandro Petacchi, Mauro Santambrogio and Geraint Thomas.
Looking at some of the main names in the rest of the list, those rated 5/10 include former world champion Alessandro Ballan, Matti Breschel, Alberto Contador, Vladimir Karpets, Alexandr Kolobnev, Alexandre Vinokourov and Bradley Wiggins.
Janez Brajkovic, Cadel Evans, Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, David Millar, Samuel Sanchez and Christian Vandevelde were ranked 4/10; below them were Ivan Basso, Gerald Ciolek, Tyler Farrar, Juan Antonio Flecha, Roman Kreuziger, Robbie McEwen, Joaquin Rodriguez and Andy Schleck.
Those deemed to be less of a risk again included Mark Cavendish, Oscar Freire, Thor Hushovd, Thomas Lovkvist, Luis Leon Sanchez, Carlos Sastre and Frank Schleck (all 2/10), plus Marcus Burghardt, Sylvain Chavanel, Jakob Fuglsang, Robert Gesink, Ryder Hesjedal and George Hincapie (ranked 1/10).
Reassuringly, the list of those with no grounds for suspicion is the biggest of all. Riders present included Michael Barry, Edvald Boasson-Hagen, Fabian Cancellara, Simon Gerrans, Chris Horner, Robert Hunter, Mark Renshaw, Nicolas Roche, Thomas Voeckler, Fabian Wegmann and David Zabriskie.
While the leaking of the list is likely to be a source of some embarrassment to the UCI, it does have a positive side in that it shows the extent to which it and WADA are taking things seriously with respect to the biological passport and the fight against doping.
The full list printed today in L’Equipe is as follows:
10/10
Carlos Barredo, Yaroslav Popovych
9 /10
Denis Menchov
8 / 10
David de La Fuente, Jose Ivan Gutierrez, Danilo Hondo, Matthew Lloyd, Iban Mayoz, David Muravyev, Rinaldo Nocentini, Daniel Oss, Kevin Seeldrayers, Konstantin Siutsou, Jurgen Van den Broeck
7 / 10
Jeremy Hunt, Andreas Kloden, Tony Martin, Christophe Moreau, Michael Rogers, Wesley Sulzberger
6 / 10
Linus Gerdemann, Christian Knees, Egoi Martinez, Francesco Reda, Alessandro Petacchi, Mauro Santambrogio, Geraint Thomas
5 / 10
Alessandro Ballan, Matti Breschel, Alberto Contador, Cyril Gautier, Iniaki Isasi, Serguei Ivanov, Vladimir Karpets, Alexandr Kolobnev, Kartsen Kroon, Steve Morabito, Benjamin Noval, Jose Joaquin Rojas, Niki Sorensen, Alexandre Vinokourov, Bradley Wiggins
4 / 10
Pierrick Fedrigo, Janez Brajkovic, Bernard Eisel, Cadel Evans, Lance Armstrong, Juan Manuel Garate, Andrei Grivko, Jesus Hernandez, Ignatas Konovalovas, Sebastian Lang, Levi Leipheimer, David Millar, Daniel Moreno, Serge Pauwels, Manuel Quinziato, Luke Roberts, Samuel Sanchez, Christian Vandevelde, Nicolas Vogondy
3 / 10
Ivan Basso, Grega Bole, Bret Bookwalter, Dimitri Champion, Gerald Ciolek, Rui Costa, Damiano Cunego, Maura da Dalto, Francis de Greef, Kevin de Weert, Markus Eibegger, Imanol Erviti, Tyler Farrar, Fabio Felline, Juan Antonio Flecha, Maxim Iglinskiy, Vasili Kiryienka, Roman Kreuziger, Mathieu Ladagnous, Robbie McEwen, Maxime Monfort, Sergio Paulinho, Joaquin Rodriguez, Andy Schleck, Chris Anker Sorensen, Sylvester Szmyd, Paolo Tiralongo, Amets Txurruka, Johan Van Summeren, Gorka Verdugo, Charles Wegelius
2 / 10
Eros Capecchi, Mark Cavendish, Steve Cummings, Rémy Di Gregorio, Duran, Mathias Frank, Oscar Freire, John Gadret, Francesco Gavazzi, Vladimir Gustov, Thor Hushovd, Christophe Kern, Thomas Lovkvist, Sebastien Minard, Daniel Navarro, Grischka Niermann, Stuart O'Grady, Ruben Perez, Christophe Riblon, Thomas Rohregger, Luis Leon Sanchez, Carlos Sastre, Frank Schleck, Simon Spilak, Bram Tankink, Stijn Vandenbergh, Benoit Vaugrenard, Jens Voigt, Eduard Vorganov
1 / 10
Marcus Burghard, Sandy Casar, Anthony Charteau, Sylvain Chavanel, Julian Dean, Michael Delage, Martin Elmiger, Johannes Frohlinger, Jakob Fuglsang, Robert Gesink, Xavier Florencio, Adam Hansen, Ryder Hesjedal, George Hincapie, Andreas Klier, Robert Kulge, Alexandr Kuchinsky, Daniel Lloyd, Mirco Lorenzetto, Martijn Maaskant, Aitor Perez, Alan Perez, Jérôme Pineau, Ruben Plaza, Alexander Pliushin, Marten Tjallingii, Rafael Valls, Marten Wynants
0 / 10
Mario Aerts, Yukiya Arashiro, Stéphane Augé, Michael Barry, Francesco Bellotti, Alberto Benitez, Edvald Boasson-Hagen, Lars Boom, Maxime Bouet, Pavel Brutt, Fabian Cancellara, Manuel Cardoso, Dries Devenyns, Samuel Dumoulin, Julien El Fares, Simon Gerrans, Anthony Geslin, Bert Grabsch, Chris Horner, Robert Hunter, Kristjan Koren, Brett Lancaster, David Le Lay, Christophe Le Mevel, Andreas Malori, Koos Moerenhout, Amael Moinard, Lloyd Mondory, Damien Monier, Juan Jose Oroz, Rémi Pauriol, Mathieu Perget, Gregory Rast, Mark Renshaw, Nicolas Roche, Jurgen Roelandts, Pierre Rolland, Anthony Roux, Jérémy Roy, Mathieu Sprick, Rein Taaramae, Sebastien Turgot, Niki Terpstra, Brian Vanborg, Jurgen VandeWalle, Ivan Velasco, Thomas Voeckler, Fabian Wegmann, David Zabriskie