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Enlarge PhotoPat McQuaid, President of the International Cycling Union (UCI), attends a news conference to present... The Tour de France has often provided the arena for cycling's dark side to emerge into the light. After a doping-free Tour in 2009, however, organisers are hoping for a clean race again next month.Though no rider was actually caught for doping during last year's race -- stage winner Mikel Astarloza was suspended shortly after the Tour for failing a test during the event -- the 2009 edition was not without controversy.
The head of French anti-doping agency AFLD, Pierre Bordry, accused the International Cycling Union (UCI) of not fully respecting testing procedures and the subsequent row led the UCI to cease cooperation with the agency for this Tour.
UCI president Pat McQuaid won support for the decision from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) who will send observers to make sure all testing conforms to its code.
"Without doubt the UCI is one of the most active and most effective international federations in terms of the fight against doping, in particular with the introduction of the biological passport," said McQuaid.
"I asked WADA to send independent observers to the 2010 Tour de France so that our activities can be submitted to their impartial examination.
"I look forward to hearing their conclusions with every confidence as the UCI works very strictly within the standards drawn up by WADA," he added.
Given the feud between Bordry and McQuaid, however, the French anti-doping official is unlikely to miss any opportunity to criticise testing procedures this year.
LEGAL DISPUTE
At the beginning of the season, the UCI appeared to have made good progress in its fight against doping.
Suspensions were given to riders whose biological passports revealed anomalies while cycling's governing body had the final say in a long legal dispute over Spaniard Alejandro Valverde's implication in the Operation Puerto blood doping scandal.
The ban imposed on Valverde by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), which found that the rider's blood samples matched samples found in the Puerto affair, was extended globally.
It should have been good news as well that American Floyd Landis, the destitute 2006 Tour champion, finally admitted to having taken drugs that year.
However his confession after four years of denial cast new shadows over the sport when the former team mate of Lance Armstrong accused the seven-times Tour champion and other prominent American cyclists of doping offences.
No evidence was produced but the allegations were seen as serious enough to prompt a federal investigation.
As if doping controversies were not enough, last month the sport was faced with another form of alleged cheating.
Former professional rider Davide Cassani of Italy revealed in a television programme that he had tried a new bicycle equipped with a concealed engine which he said had been used in professional races.
The UCI said the risk of such tampering existed and announced that all the bikes to be used on the July 3-25 Tour would be scanned before the start to detect engines.
(Editing by Julien Pretot and Clare Fallon; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
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