UCI declares final Tour de France doping tests negative

The UCI announced today that it has received the results of the final anti-doping controls taken during the Tour de France, and all have been declared negative. The UCI's Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF) was the recipient of the complete dossier from the Châtenay-Malabry, Lausanne and Cologne testing laboratories.

The only doping case at the Tour involved Katusha's Alexandr Kolobnev, whose hydrochlorothiazide test results were confirmed by the B-sample last month. While the Russian denies having intentionally used the substance, which can act as a masking agent, he has been suspended by his team, pending the outcome of the official disciplinary procedure being carried out by the Russian cycling federation.

UCI President Pat McQuaid was pleased with the outcome of the tests, crediting his organisation's recent anti-doping measures, including the biological passport, for the results.

"It also indicates that there has been a change of mentality and behaviour within the peloton. Our sport is on the right track and we will continue to use all means available to protect it," said McQuaid in a press release from the UCI.

With the final test results in, the outcome of this year's race appears confirmed, unlike that of the 2010 Tour de France. Alberto Contador's positive for clenbuterol is still up in the air, pending a November arbitration hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The UCI has faced criticism from the French anti-doping authorities in recent years, with former AFLD director Pierre Bordry accusing the organisation of favoring teams and being less than thorough in its anti-doping scheme. With a change of guard in the AFLD, the UCI claims it was able to come to a better agreement for anti-doping testing at the 2011 Tour de France, where both agencies cooperated to perform the anti-doping controls.

Dr. Francesca Rossi, CADF Director, said there was "excellent cooperation between the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) and the laboratories which analyzed the samples. From a purely technical point of view, the outcome of the anti-doping activities at the Tour de France is very satisfying."