Biological passport 'not effective' for detecting micro-dosing

Roman Kreuziger's case highlights developing uncertainty surrounding the efficacy and reliability of the biological passport anti-doping system

A leading expert has said that the Union Cycliste Internationale's biological passport system was never designed to catch athletes who micro-dose banned blood booster EPO or utilise low volume blood transfusions, questioning its effectiveness in the fight against doping.

Speaking off the record, the expert told us: “The bio passport was designed to catch people using EPO and using high-volume blood transfusions. Now, those who are still cheating are micro-dosing with EPO and using micro-transfusions and the bio passport is nowhere as effective as catching those people, it simply wasn’t designed to spot that sort of doping."

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