The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled that Bouygues Telecom rider Franck Bouyer cannot take a drug named Modafinil for therapeutic reasons. Bouyer had appealed to the CAS after the UCI's decision not to authorise the rider's medical use of the drug because of its performance-enhancing effects. However, the French rider suffers from an illness called narcolepsy, resulting in sudden sleep attacks, and is not able to practise cycling without the medication.
The CAS argued that for an authorisation to be given, it has to be proven that the therapeutic use of the drug will not result in an increase in performance other than that of the rider's return to normal health. The judges concluded that Bouyer could not prove that the intake of Modafinil would not increase his capacities. Furthermore, the hearing of experts established that the dosage of the drug is difficult to control - to verify the respect of non-performance-enhancing condition - as a method for doing so does not exist at the moment.
