{"id":1835963,"date":"2026-03-19T04:34:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1835963"},"modified":"2026-03-19T04:34:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:34:42","slug":"cyclings-collective-punishment-anti-doping-rule-is-brutal-but-necessary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1835963","title":{"rendered":"Cycling’s Collective Punishment Anti-Doping Rule Is Brutal but Necessary"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated March 19, 2026 02:58PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Cycling\u2019s most unforgiving anti-doping rule is back in the spotlight, with two recent team-wide doping suspensions a stark reminder that the sport still can\u2019t let its guard down.<\/p>\n

Just this month, two Continental squads were suspended under the UCI rule that calls for entire teams to be sidelined when two or more riders trigger anti-doping violations within a 12-month window.<\/p>\n

Colombia\u2019s Medell\u00edn-EPM was handed a 30-day stop for two cases. Portugal\u2019s Feirense Beeceler will sit out 22 days after three riders were cited for irregularities in their biological passports, including American journeyman Barry Miller.<\/p>\n

The rule is explicit, and teams are now being held accountable for the actions of their riders.<\/p>\n

The fallout can sometimes appear wildly unfair.<\/p>\n

In both cases, all five riders cited were no longer on the suspended teams at the start of this season.<\/p>\n

Yet when the UCI pulls a team out of competition, it doesn\u2019t just punish the riders linked to the case. It sidelines every rider, staff member, and sponsor associated with that jersey.<\/p>\n

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But those rules exist because of not what happened this season or even three years ago, but of what happened decades ago.<\/p>\n

A rule inspired by a different era<\/h2>\n
New rules came after a wave of doping scandals. (Photo by Doug Pensinger\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The \u201ctwo-strikes-and-you\u2019re-out\u201d rule has been around for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

It dates to the 2015 overhaul of the UCI anti-doping policies, which introduced team suspensions of 15 to 45 days when two riders or staffers\u00a0commit anti-doping violations within a 12-month period.<\/p>\n

The idea was born from the darkest days of the EPO era and the reckoning that came from the USADA case in 2012 involving the U.S. Postal Service team and several top pros, including Lance Armstrong.<\/p>\n

The aim was to shift accountability away from individual riders and impose consequences on teams.<\/p>\n

A string of devastating scandals, from the Festina Affair to Operaci\u00f3n Puerto to the USADA case, laid bare the depth and complexity of team-orchestrated cheating.<\/p>\n

Teams would sometimes coerce team members to cheat, then wash their hands of them when a rider was caught up in disciplinary cases. Yet the managers, doctors, and others involved in the conspiracy faced no real tangible penalties.<\/p>\n

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The UCI\u2019s answer \u2014 led by then-UCI president Brian Cookson \u2014 was to force teams to own up to what happens inside their structure.<\/p>\n

If two are caught, the thinking goes, the problem likely runs deeper than one bad apple.<\/p>\n

On paper, it made sense for the times. But like just about anything in professional cycling, the fallout is often messy.<\/p>\n

The problem with timing<\/h2>\n
\"Lazkano\"
Oier Lazkano, shown here in 2024, has been provisionally suspended by the UCI.<\/span> (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The latest cases expose the rule\u2019s biggest inconsistency: timing.<\/p>\n

The riders who triggered the recent suspensions were no longer on those teams, and, in some cases, they hadn\u2019t been for years.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s biological passport case traces back to samples from 2023, when he raced one season with Portugal\u2019s Feirense Beeceler team. He hasn\u2019t raced since 2024. Yet in 2026, his data helped trigger a suspension for a team that no longer employs him.<\/p>\n

Also read<\/strong>: American Cyclist Named in Doping Case That Suspends Another Team<\/p>\n

Fair or not, that\u2019s how the biological passport system works.<\/p>\n

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Anti-doping authorities analyze blood values and other biomarkers during years and can build cases long after the alleged violation occurred. By the time a rider is notified, they might have changed teams, left the sport, or disappeared from the peloton entirely.<\/p>\n

The result is that teams can be punished for riders who are no longer even part of their roster.<\/p>\n

The blockbuster biological passport case in 2025 involving Oier Lazkano also reveals the complexity of imposing sanctions.<\/p>\n

The WorldTour pro raced for Movistar during the period in question, but was on Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe when he was sanctioned. That means the Spanish team could technically be exposed under the two-strikes rule, but Red Bull got all the bad publicity despite releasing him immediately.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not to say riders involved in any of these cases are angels. In fact, two of the five riders cited in the latest wave of team suspensions have also been individually sanctioned, and other cases are still playing out.<\/p>\n

Deterrence works \u2014 cycling is still figuring out who should pay the price.<\/p>\n

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A rare sanction<\/h2>\n
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A major WorldTour team has never been suspended. <\/span> (Photo: DIRK WAEM\/BELGA MAG\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The two-strikes rule might be on the books for more than 10 years, but its application remains uncommon.<\/p>\n

No modern WorldTour super team has been suspended, even though a few have come close.<\/p>\n

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Suspensions have hit ProTeam or Continental squads, not the biggest teams (yet).<\/p>\n

Though the suspensions are relatively short, they can take a team out of important races.<\/p>\n

The rule\u2019s first major test came in 2017, when Nicola Ruffoni and Stefano Pirazzi tested positive for GHRP-2, forcing Bardiani-CSF to withdraw from the Giro d\u2019Italia and serve a month-long suspension.<\/p>\n

That was a milestone case showing the rule could sideline an entire team.<\/p>\n

Also read<\/strong>: Entire Cycling Team Suspended in Latest Biological Passport Doping Case<\/p>\n

In 2021, Vini Zab\u00f9 also withdrew from the Giro and served a 30-day suspension after positives from Matteo Spreafico and Andrea Piccolo.<\/p>\n

Another Portuguese team \u2014 AP Hotels & Resorts-Tavira-SC Farense \u2014 was hit with a 20-day suspension following two biological passport cases in 2024.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s notable that the biological passport is back as a tool for sanctions in the most recent cases. After its rollout nearly 20 years ago, it faced legal pushback and costly litigation.<\/p>\n

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The International Testing Agency, starting in 2026, is now running anti-doping and disciplinary actions for the UCI, perhaps signaling a more aggressive use of the passport data.<\/p>\n

Staying on top of the ball<\/h2>\n
Anti-doping management\u00a0is now being organized by the ITA.<\/span> (Photo: Frederic T Stevens\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s another wrinkle on the value of the two-strikes\u00a0rule, at least if you believe cycling is now a more transparent and credible sport than it was a generation ago.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the 1990s, when shady team doctors and soigneurs<\/em> ran programs in dank hotel rooms and in the back of\u00a0team buses.<\/p>\n

Today, it\u2019s the trainers and coaches who bring the magic. Data and power numbers drive performance, not hematocrit levels and TUEs.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a case to be made that advances in technology, aerodynamics, nutrition, and training have pushed cycling toward Formula 1-level science-driven improvements in power, speed, and recovery.<\/p>\n

Also read<\/strong>: Understanding the Biological Passport: The Most Powerful Anti-Doping Tool of Professional Sport<\/p>\n

Many of today\u2019s sponsors are global corporations with zero tolerance. Contracts routinely include anti-doping escape clauses, allowing backers to walk away at the first hint of systemic cheating.<\/p>\n

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Teams beg riders not<\/em> to cheat, and some even run independent controls to parallel UCI and WADA programs.<\/p>\n

The MPCC, an advocacy group involving dozens of teams, operates under an even stricter ethical code.<\/p>\n

Teams aren\u2019t protecting dopers. They\u2019re trying to avoid them, even if sources told Velo<\/em> that teams are not back-checking biological passport data as rigorously as before.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say some cyclists and teams aren\u2019t still tempted to cut corners.<\/p>\n

If anything, it\u2019s often at the lower levels where some of the worst old-school doping may still be happening.<\/p>\n

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Deterrence<\/h2>\n
The offices of the World Anti-Doping Agency in a file photo.<\/span>\u00a0(Photo: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The UCI would argue the two-strikes rule still works even if it\u2019s imperfect.<\/p>\n

For the first time, it forces teams to take anti-doping seriously because the organization also pays the price.<\/p>\n

The sport hasn\u2019t had a major blowout doping scandal in years, though some are walking on eggshells, wary of another major star testing positive.<\/p>\n

Some argue that cycling\u2019s relatively\u00a0scandal-free run is in large part due to the anti-doping infrastructure\u00a0and rules like team-wide suspensions.<\/p>\n

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The current anti-doping system can still feel like a maze, with whereabouts tracking, the biological passport, and out-of-competition controls on top of what riders face during a race.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s massively better than it was.<\/p>\n

Yet the recent team suspensions raise questions about how the rule may no longer match modern anti-doping procedures.<\/p>\n

When biological passport violations are detected years later and tied to riders no longer on the team, the link between team responsibility and accountability might seem a bit of a stretch.<\/p>\n

The two-strikes rule also punishes everyone else on the team who might have had nothing to do with it and could be clean.<\/p>\n

Collective punishment cuts both ways.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no magic pill \u2014 excuse the pun<\/em> \u2014 to perfectly fix cycling\u2019s most existential problem.<\/p>\n

Cycling has spent decades trying to prove it has moved beyond its past.<\/p>\n

Rules like this are designed to keep the genie in the bottle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated March 19, 2026 02:58PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ban.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated March 19, 2026 02:58PM Cycling\u2019s most unforgiving anti-doping rule is back in the spotlight, with two recent team-wide doping suspensions a stark reminder that the sport still can\u2019t let its guard down. Just this month, two Continental squads were suspended under the UCI rule that calls for entire teams […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1835963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1835963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835963\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1835963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1835963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1835963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}