The UCI's Management Committee announced Friday that it has approved the so-called 'no start' rule which will allow the organization to use data from the biological passport programme to keep riders with abnormal values out of competition for 15 days. The committee made the decision at its meeting in Snekkersten, Denmark. This type of rule has been applied in the past to the riders' haematocrit values, where a value over 50% would result in a temporary ban from competition.
The biological passport has now been officially integrated into the UCI's Anti-Doping Rules, as was expected after the 'no start' proposal was announced last week. The 'no start' rule was devised as an first course of action before imposing a formal suspension, since a sanction "requires a greater degree of certainty."
