The last few weeks have highlighted two key moments in the ongoing anti-doping fight. Firstly, the UCI has taken the initiative and banned the powerful and controversial painkiller tramadol, with the first batch of tests taken during Paris-Nice. While these measures have been widely applauded by riders and teams, the damaging revelations of a doping ring in Austria, with two rider confessions and the possibility of more to follow, have stripped bare the notion that cycling's dark arts have been eradicated entirely.
The ban on tramadol, which carries its own rules on suspensions separate to those typically associated with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), came after almost half a decade of lobbying from bodies and agencies such as the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC).
This collection of teams from the WorldTour and below has, at times, faced criticism, but their core intention has always been centred around 'doing better' and looking to improve the culture within the sport. Team Sunweb were one of the founding members of the movement and their doctor, Anko Boelens, was one of the leading voices calling for the sanctions over tramadol.
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"I know that the cycling world isn't completely clean yet," Boelens tells Cyclingnews.
"Almost everyone that works in cycling will have to acknowledge that, but we also have become cleaner, and we've created a mentality that's a lot better than a few years ago."
Boelens heralds the tramadol ban as a 'welcome' advancement but adds that Sunweb have banned the substance internally for a number of years. In fact, if riders on the squad break rank and use tramadol, either in training or racing, they risk having their contracts dissolved. Sunweb, according to Boelens, are likely to treat the use of tramadol like any other major doping violation.
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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/idealism-is-more-important-than-all-out-success-says-sunweb-doctor
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