Cycling’s anti-doping authorities are working towards a possible 2028 launch of a “power data passport” that would use riders’ performance files to help target testing and investigations, International Testing Agency director of testing Olivier Banuls said.
The project, currently in a feasibility phase and led by the ITA with academic partners including the University of Kent in England, would not be used to sanction riders directly in the way the Athlete Biological Passport can support anti-doping rule violations.
Instead, the ITA wants to assess whether power data can help build rider performance profiles and guide decisions on who to test, when to test them, which samples to store for future re-analysis and where to open intelligence-led investigations.
“The idea in the long term is not using the power data to sanction the athlete,” Banuls told Reuters and the Athletic.
“It will only be used to monitor the athletes and to inform anti-doping strategies target testing, long-term storage, re-analysis. We may also identify some patterns in the team, between colleagues, and that would be very helpful to initiate some investigations and gather intelligence.”
Cycling has long relied on biological data, whereabouts information, intelligence and targeted testing to detect doping, but the addition of power data would bring a new performance-monitoring layer into the system.
Banuls said the ITA monitored performances from television and public data but wanted access to more complete information used internally by teams.
“Power data is extremely useful. It is part of the life of the athlete, part of the core activity of the teams,” he said.
–Reuters–
