President of the French anti-doping agency AFLD Pierre Bordry expressed on Monday his concern over the strictness of UCI testing procedures at the Tour de France.
"The doping inspectors of the UCI are not strict enough," said Bordry, according to the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. "I have the feeling that the one rider can count more than the other and that the [same] rules not apply to everyone."
The newspaper reported that in response to the issues raised by Bordry, the President of the UCI, Pat McQuaid, said he would address the Frenchman's concerns, but he refuted suggestion of lax testing procedures.
"I assure that you that the inspectors treat all racers in the same manner. There is no talk of 'cronyism'," said McQuaid. "I have received a letter from Bordry concerning this matter and I will answer that. Talk of weak inspections, however, I deny firmly."
The AFLD was responsible for testing at the 2008 Tour de France, a race that saw four riders return positive results for the third generation EPO variant, CERA. On June 10 this year, the AFLD and UCI announced that they would be co-ordinating efforts to help ensure a clean Tour.
After the first ten days of the 2009 Tour de France there have been no abnormal results announced from tests carried out by either the AFLD or UCI.
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