This year’s Tour de France best climber Bernhard Kohl receives a two-year suspension from the Austrian anti-doping agency (NADA).

Kohl, who also finished third overall in this year’s race, had tested positive for the blood booster CERA, the latest version of exogenous erythropoietin aka EPO.

The 26-year-old rider met with NADA on Nov. 24 and his suspension was announced after the closed door meeting. Contrary to earlier speculation that he will fully cooperate with authorities and reveal his drug source, Kohl did not reveal his drug source.

“Bernhard is willing to cooperate and he will tell about how he got the substance and how and where he used it,” Kohl’s manager Stefan Matschiner stated prior to the meeting with NADA.

The chairman of NADA’s disciplinary committee, Gernot Schaar, said Kohl did not divulge any details on how he got the CERA, a new variant of erythropoietin aka EPO.

“He did not name any names of the men behind his doping use,” Schaar said. “That means there could be no doubt about the penalty.”

Kohl’s could have gotten a lesser penalty had he fully cooperated with authorities.

“I’ve made my statement and I’ve been honest,” Kohl said. “If it’s appreciated (by NADA), it will be a good sign for the sport.”

Kohl was disappointed that he still got the maximum penalty despite coming out clean with his admission.

“It’s a shame that I got the same penalty as someone who denies everything. This is the wrong way. I definitely made clear how I got it and what my reasons behind it were.”

Matschiner, who did not attend the meeting, also expressed his disappointment with the verdict.

“I really hoped his cooperative attitude would have lowered the penalty,” Matschiner was quoted as saying in an interview with Austrian media after the announcement of the ban.

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Tags: Austrian anti-doping agency, Bernhard Kohl, CERA, doping, EPO, Stefan Matschiner, Tour de France

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Anti-doping authorities and United Nations officials are ecstatic that 102 countries have ratified a treaty to rid sport of dopers. If you asked us, we think it’s much better if the headline reads “More than 100 nations sign anti-war treaty”, or something along that line.

In our view, there are numerous and far more important issues that need to be addressed before politicians come after athletes who voluntarily use steroids and other performance boosters.

Take the case of Uganda, the 102nd signee of the anti-doping treaty. Ugandan officials – and the UN – should first look deeper into the human rights violations that take place at the country’s peripheries.

Then take a look at the United States.  We ask when will the United States, the 94th country to ratify the anti-doping agreement, put its stamp of approval on the Kyoto Protocol. We expect the answer would be never.

Associated Press reports on this treaty’s ‘momentous’ signing:

The director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency is hopeful the fight against drug cheats will gain ground now that over 100 countries have signed a United Nations treaty.

WADA’s David Howman said Wednesday that 102 countries have ratified the UNESCO Convention on Doping in Sport since it went into effect nearly two years ago. It means -doping measures become part of national law in the countries that have ratified the agreement.

“This is setting the standards very high. To the world governments that have shown much in fighting the scourge of doping, thank you from WADA,” Howman said Wednesday. “We’ve reached 100, in fact we’re starting to get over 100.”

At the end of February, with the number at 77, WADA president John Fahey had urged for more cooperation. Speaking at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris after a ceremony to mark the 100 signatures, he said “we’re not there yet.

“We still have a long way to go,” he added, “(Doping) is too easy in many countries there are not strong enough laws,” Howman said. “Let’s enhance the fight through legislation.”
UNESCO director-general Koichiro Matsuura called reaching 100 “an important step in the world fight against doping in sport” and said “the accent has been put on a dedication against doping, in both the scientific and the medical domain.”

Ratification of this agreement “helps a member nation prevent cross-border trafficking of sporting drugs, support a national drug-testing program and withhold funding from athletes caught cheating”, says the AP report.

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Tags: anabolic steroids, anti-doping treaty, doping, steroids, UNESCO, UNESCO Convention on Doping in Sport, United Nations, World Anti-Doping Agency

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From the Canadian Press:

Italian marathon runner Alberico Di Cecco has tested positive for EPO, the Italian Olympic Committee said Monday.

Di Cecco, who finished ninth at the 2004 Athens Olympics, failed a test at the Italian championship in Carpi on Oct. 12. Di Cecco, who won the Roma marathon in 2005, would face a two-year if found guilty of doping.

EPO is a blood-boosting hormone that enhances endurance.

EPO stands for erythropoietin, a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red cell blood production. Because of this property, exogenous EPO (also called erythropoiesis stimulating agent or ASA) is sought after by endurance athletes, such as cyclists and marathon runners, because it boosts aerobic power.

Marathon runner Deeja Youngquist tested positive for EPO during an out-of-competition screening prior to the 2004 US Olympic trials. The then 28-year-old Youngquist was penalized with a two-year-ban, which ended in December 2006.

Tour De France seven-time champ Lance Armstrong has been continually hounded by rumors of EPO use.

The testing for EPO has always been under scrutiny because of questions about its accuracy.  Exogenous EPO is almost identical to its natural counterpart so you cannot really be 100 percent sure if it’s injected or naturally occurring. Moreover, there are other two conditions that make testing for this prohibited compound problematic.

First, a test can only effectively detect EPO if it’s injected within six days of the use; beyond that it’s like you searching for a coin under murky water.

Second, some individuals have a natural higher percentage of RBCs, high enough to yield a positive test.

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Tags: Alberico Di Cecco, Deeja Youngquist, doping, EPO, Lance Armstrong, marathon runners, steroids

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This 2008 Tour de France’s riders might have crossed the finished lines several weeks ago, but it looks like the rigors of the race is not yet over. The rigors of Tour de France drug screening, that is.

Retroactive testing for the new generation blood booster CERA, or Continuous Erythopoiesis Receptor Activator, is now being carried out by French laboratories. So far, two riders were caught using the banned compound since the retroactive testing was implemented. It was announced on Monday that Italy’s Leonardo Piepoli and Germany’s Stefan Schumacher both tested positive for CERA.  And race officials are expecting more positive tests in the coming weeks.

“The tests are still underway, they are not all done yet,” French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) head Pierre Bordry told Reuters on Wednesday.

“I imagine there could be one or two more cases,” race director Christian Prudhomme added, in a week when two Tour riders were exposed as drugs cheats.

Italian rider Riccardo Ricco was suspected of taking CERA when the race was still underway in July and was subsequently sent home. Spanish riders Manuel Beltran and Moises Dueňas, tested positive for EPO, and were also sent packing.

Why the late screening?

“People in the street ask me: ‘How did that come out so late?”‘ Prudhomme said. “In July, the process wasn’t legitimate at the time … These tests are of a new type.”

There are two labs which are currently testing the samples from all of the riders who competed in this year’s race.

The Chatenay-Malabry laboratory, which has developed a more effective blood test to find this EPO variant, and a WADA-approved Lausanne facility are testing blood samples. CERA is difficult to detect through urine samples.

“We are testing samples from July 3, 4 and 15,” Bordry said, adding there was no room for error.

“They are all tested by the Chatenay-Malabry lab, which is the official AFLD lab, but also in Lausanne, as a guarantee.”

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