Anti-Doping Watchdog Targets 2028 Rollout for Cycling’s ‘Power Passport’

Cycling’s anti-doping watchdog is targeting a 2028 rollout for a new “power passport” that would use riders’ performance data to help guide drug testing, ITA head of testing Oliver Banuls told Velo in an exclusive interview.

Cycling already uses blood, urine and intelligence to target drug cheats.

By 2028, officials also hope to add power files to that list.

“It won’t be used to sanction athletes,” Banuls told Velo.

“It will be used to direct our anti-doping strategy — target testing, reanalysis, gap analysis, long-term storage analysis, intelligence investigation.”

The sometimes-controversial project recently started a two-year study to determine if power data could become anti-doping’s next tool.

“The idea is that at the end of the study, if there is proof of evidence, we can go towards the inclusion of the power data and the sharing of power data in the UCI regulations by 2028,” Banuls told Velo.

Adding power data to anti-doping microscope

The biological passport — introduced nearly two decades ago — tracks blood and steroidal markers.

Similarly, this would track power data and watch out for long-term shifts that don’t add up.

“Every single rider is monitoring his data. The coaches, the head of performance, everybody is using power data,” Banuls said.

“We felt that for the ITA it was a strong element to add to the arsenal of tools that we have at our disposal.”

Rather than red-flagging one monster ride, Banuls said it’s about tracking how a rider’s power numbers evolve over time.

“The purpose is getting the full picture,” he said. “A sprinter won’t have the same patterns as a climber or a rider fighting for the general classification.”

That’s what a new two-year study with the University of Kent and University College London is working on.

The idea of a power passport been around for years, but Banuls said the technology wasn’t ready.

“We started this discussion back in 2015, but it was too premature,” he said. “It took 10 years to open the discussion.”

Banuls said the study will also look at practical issues, like consistency of data across different brands, how data can be accurately stored and transferred, and if power numbers could be manipulated.

Cycling’s new anti-doping frontier

Researchers are already analyzing historical race and training files from more than 60 riders across five professional teams, with more teams expressing interest in joining the project.

Live data collection begins next year and then researchers will present their findings to the project’s advisory panel, Banuls said.

There’s been some push back from some within the peloton, but there are conversations among all the key stakeholders.

“The riders’ union understands it’s a feasibility study. They understand the purpose of the project. They understand the challenges around the project,” he said.

“Their concern is more from a regulatory point of view. ‘What if it becomes mandatory?’ ‘What if a rider doesn’t share his data?’”

“But it’s far too early to say what will happen in the future. Now the purpose is making sure we are able to set up this model.”

Banuls stressed that the power passport would not become another method of sanctioning riders directly.

Instead, a sudden or unexplained shift in a rider’s long-term performance profile could trigger new testing or back-testing of stored samples.

It’s still the old-school “adverse analytical finding” that catches most drug cheats.

“It won’t be a revolution,” Banuls said. “It will be a great evolution.”