Image 1 of 3

The professional cyclists’ union (CPA) has welcomed WADA&rsqu𝕴o;s recent clarification of its stance on the nighttime doping controls that were suggested by its independent observers in their recent repo♐rt on drug testing at the 2010 Tour de France.

CPA president Gianni Bugno had already written𒅌 a personal letter to UCI president Pat McQuaid outlining his organisation’s opposition to any such testing and the CPA supported this position in a meeting of its management committee, which was held in Milan.

“It should be remembered that if this practice were actually introduced into UCI regulations, it would be in contravention of European privacy laws,” read a statement from the CPA, which highlighted that riders were already available fo🔯r testing from 6am to 10pm.

Tuttobiciweb.it reports that the CPA is, 🍷however, taking steps to prevent riders who are serving a doping suspension from accessin⛎g the union’s solidarity fund for unemployed riders.

The CPA has also agreed to set up an athletes’ commission, a body which the IOC has requested be established by all sporting federations. It is understood that each member nation of the CPA will have a rider on the commission and the riders’ union will𒁏 forward its nominations to the UCI in the coming days.

It is unde𒉰rstood that the CPA is also set to ask the UCI to examine the practice of riders being given independent contract✅s, something which is illegal in many European Union countries. The union says that it leads to a gross disparity between riders’ tax and social insurance, according to the country in which they are resident.