Pro riders taking the painkiller tramadol face disqualification from races, fines and even suspension by the UCI.
The synthetic opioid has previously been permitted under anti-doping rules, but cycling’s governing body is now implementing its own in-competition ban to protect riders.
Tramadol is frequently used by riders, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), but the UCI has unilaterally opted to ban the substance from March 1.
The UCI said: “From March 1, 2019, in-competition use of tramadol will be banned across all disciplines.
“This new regulation, which is being introduced for medical reasons, allows for penalties to be imposed if the rules are broken.”
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Some riders use tramadol, a painkiller used to treat moderate to severe pain, to improve their performance on the bike.
An experiment conducted by university academics found that riders’ power output was higher when taking the painkiller.
But use of the drug has raised concerns over rider safety, as side effects include drowsiness and loss of concentration which could cause crashes in the tightly-packed peloton.
Tramadol users also face gradual dependence on the substance with the risk of developing addiction.
The drug is not included on WADA’s list of prohibited substances, despite calls for it to be banned.
WADA says it is not convinced tramadol has performance-enhancing benefit, but that it could be banned in the coming years.
Instead tramadol is listed on the WADA Monitoring List, where it has remained since 2012.
According to a WADA study carried out in 2017, 4.4 per cent of in-competition tests on cyclists showed the used of tramadol, while 68 per cent of urine samples taken from 35 Olympic sports that contained the drug were taken from cyclists.
From March 1, the UCI will ban tramadol from all cycling disciplines.
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Any rider taking part in an event registered on a national or international calendar may be selected to provide a blood sample for tramadol.
Samples are likely to be taken at the end of a race, with testers taking a small blood sample from the rider’s fingertip.
Avoiding a tramadol test will be treated as a positive test.
A rider committing their first tramadol offence will be disqualified from the event and fined 5,000 Swiss Francs (around £4,000) if they are a member of a UCI-registered team.
A second positive tramadol test will result in disqualification and a five-month suspension and a third offence will result in a nine-month ban.
If two riders belonging to the same UCI-registered team test positive for tramadol within 12 months, the team will be fined 10,000 Swiss Francs (£7900).
A further offence within that same year will lead to the team being suspended for between one to 12 months.
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