UCI deplores leak of doping probability list

Cycling's governing body condemned the leak Friday of a confidential document that ranks riders at last year's Tour de France on a scale of doping suspicion.

French sports daily L'Equipe published what it said was UCI's "index of suspicion" for all 198 riders from the 2010 Tour on a grade of 0-10, with 10 being the highest level of suspicion and 0 the lowest.

Canadian's Michael Barry and Ryder Hesjedal were ranked 0 and 1, respectively.

"The UCI deplores the leak," UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani told The Associated Press by telephone.

"The list exists, yes. We haven't hidden that."

Carpani said the list was meant as a "working tool" to support the drug-testing process.

He said the UCI would issue a formal statement later Friday.

Two riders were listed at 10, one at nine and several more at eight.

Most of the riders scored below four.

The ratings were based on readings drawn from each rider's biological passport profile before the Tour, including the latest blood tests on July 1 — two days before the start of the race.

Several cyclists criticized the existence of the list.

"I'm all for catching cheats but draw the line at this sort of thing, which could be based on one, single, wayward statistic," Australian rider Robbie McEwen, a former three-time green jersey sprint champion on the Tour, said on Twitter.

"And who leaked it??"

Sprint champion Mark Cavendish of Britain, a multiple sprint-stage winner at the Tour, also expressed his view on Twitter.

"So theres a leaked 1-10 'suspicion' scale for all 2010 TourDeFrance riders," he said. "So now EVERYONE'S suspicious, but just HOW suspicious?!"

There was one doping case at last year's Tour, with winner Alberto Contador testing positive for clenbuterol during a rest day.

He blamed the finding on eating contaminated beef and was cleared by the Spanish cycling federation.

Contador's case is currently under appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The list was handed to UCI anti-doping officials at the race, as well as drug-testing observers from the World Anti-Doping Agency, according to L'Equipe.

There was no immediate reply to an email sent to WADA for confirmation that it had received the list.

Scores of 0 and 1 on the UCI list indicated riders who were considered to have extremely clean records, according to L'Equipe, while rankings between 2 and 4 were based on passport profiles that fluctuated at a specific time but were otherwise normal.

Scores ranging from 6 to 10 indicated a high level of circumstantial evidence pointing to potential doping because of a recurrence of fluctuations in passport profiles or alleged doping at previous races such as the Giro d'Italia and Spanish Vuelta, L'Equipe said.

One example of a fluctuating passport profile is a sudden drop in hemoglobin in the weeks leading up to the Tour.

This constitutes circumstantial evidence, because it could indicate a rider extracting his own blood and then reinjecting it to boost performance.

Variations in hematocrit levels were also monitored, a standard part of anti-doping procedures in cycling.