UCI aim to establish independent doping tribunal in 2015

Following a two-day meeting held at the Road World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain, the UCI has announced that it is to establish an anti-doping tribunal to deal with doping cases. An independent tribunal would mean disciplinary proceedings would no longer need to be delegated to national federations and will hopefully minimise the need to appeal cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)

At present, national federations are responsible for dealing with doping cases. Earlier this week, Roman Kreuziger was cleared of biological passport charges by the Czech Olympic Committee with the UCI widely expected to appeal the decision at the CAS. It is hoped that having an independent tribunal comprising judges specialising in anti-doping deal will help address the frequently protracted nature of such cases.

The aim is to provide athletes with a consistent process and decision-making as well as ensuring a clear, short timetable for each case. Following consultation with national federations, it is hoped that the tribunal will be up and running next year.

The meeting also saw the 14-member UCI management committee discuss a report from the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) which was formed earlier in the year.

Speaking at the time, UCI president, Brian Cookson said:

“This Commission will investigate the problems cycling has faced in recent years, especially the allegations that the UCI has been involved in wrongdoing in the past – allegations which have done so much to hurt the credibility of the UCI and our sport.

“Their work will also be focused on understanding what went so wrong in our sport and they will make recommendations for change so that as far as possible those mistakes are not repeated.”

The CIRC’s work is ongoing, but it is said to be on target to deliver its report at the beginning of 2015 within the budget allocated to it by the UCI.