The UCI has boosted the money for their anti-doping programme by 35% over the course of the next two years.
All anti-doping operations involving the UCI were delegated to the International Testing Agency at the beginning of 2021 , the increase in funding is to be spread across all areas of their operations, but with a particular focus on men’s road racing.
In a statement the UCI said that the funding increase will help to “reinforce capacities” in a range of areas including “testing, intelligence and investigations, data analysis and science.”
“The focus lies on reinforcing capacities in the areas of Intelligence & Investigations, testing, science, data analysis, long-term sample storage and sample re-analysis,” the statement added.
The funding committee of the UCI anti-doping programme, which is behind the decision to increase spending, is made up of representatives from a variety of organisations including the UCI itself, as well as teams, riders and race organisers associations.
The increase in funding will be gradual, with an expected increase of €1.5m in 2023, before a further €2.4m from 2024 onwards. In total, the increase in budget will eventually amount to nearly €10m, a 35 percent increase on spending today.
One of the main target areas for the increase in budget and spending, is the area of “intelligence and investigations” on a global scale, which, according to the UCI, has been identified as a priority. Another area of interest will be the greater capacity to store samples for later testing, for up to a period of 10 years […]
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