The Association of professional cyclists (CPA) has issued a statement with regard to the hematocrit controls carried out by the UCI before the beginning of Tirreno Adriatico in Tivoli on March 8. "The procedure in which the blood samples were taken was obviously against what the regulations stipulate," the CPA stated in its communiqué, saying that the controls had been carried out in a "passage area" of a hotel hall, lacking "the most elementary protection of privacy and hygienic conditions".
The Italian wing of the association, the ACCPI, and the CPA have announced that the riders "will not accept the repetition of similar episodes". The results of the tests proved all concerned riders negative for any traces of artificial blood alterations.
