Visma confirmed among teams in anti-doping power data passport trial

The pilot programme was first announced by the ITA a year ago on the eve of the Tour de France, when the body said it was developing a “longitudinal performance monitoring tool based on power data from men professional road cyclists.”

In a statement this week, the ITA outlined that approximately 60 riders from Visma | Lease a Bike, Jayco-AlUla, Picnic-PostNL, Decathlon CMA CGM and Cofidis have been participating in the two-year study. 

The ITA added that three more teams – Uno-X Mobility, Tudor Pro Cycling Team and Team TotalEnergies – had since “approved participation frameworks,” while talks are continuing with other teams. For the time being, the study is limited to elite men’s cycling.

The study is being carried out in collaboration with the University of Kent and University College London with the aim of establishing whether power data can be reliably used as a tool to supplement existing anti-doping controls, including the biological passport.

The concept itself is not a new one. As far back as 2011, the former BMC doctor Max Testa floated the idea of tracking power data as part of anti-doping protocols, though he stressed that it could only work a supplement to blood testing rather than as a substitute.

That principle seems to underpin the current feasibility study, where the idea is that power data would be monitored as an intelligence tool.

“Its purpose is not to establish anti-doping rule violations through performance data, but to evaluate whether certain patterns or evolutions in performance may, in the future, help inform areas such as targeted testing strategies, sample retention decisions, additional laboratory analysis or investigations,” read the ITA statement.

The testing authority added that the monitoring model’s primary focus would be on power data collected from races rather than from training, and that it is built to examine “the change in an athlete’s performances over time rather than focusing solely on an isolated exceptional performance.”

The ITA also explained that its two-year study is broken into two distinct parts. The first year has seen a focus on analysing historical rider data. If that analysis backs up the principles behind the study, then “the project would progress into a pilot implementation phase using current season data.”

If the monitoring tool is eventually validated by the ITA and approved by the UCI, the governing body will amend its rules to enforce the mandatory sharing of power data for all male professional riders.

CPA president Adam Hansen has already outlined his organisation’s opposition to the implementation of a power data passport, insisting that it was an additional burden of responsbility on riders. 

“The CPA’s position is very clear: we’re 100% against this and so are the riders,” Hansen told the Domestique Hotseat podcast in January. “Ok, it’s only a test. it’s only voluntary, but my question is, ‘What happens if the rider does not submit his power data?’ And they [the ITA] are like, ‘Ah, but it’s just a test.’”

ITA Director General Benjamin Cohen insisted on Tuesday that the feasibility study is just that for the time being. 

“Power data has been part of the conversation in cycling for many years. It is one of the sport’s most widely used performance tools, yet until now its potential contribution to anti-doping has remained largely unexplored,” he said. 

“Thanks to the commitment of riders, teams and recognised experts, we now have the opportunity to assess its potential through a structured scientific process and determine whether it can meaningfully complement the anti-doping toolbox in the future.”