12 Feb
February 12, 2007 - Boulder, CO - Slipstream Sports LLC and its chief venture, the Slipstream/Chipotle Professional Cycling Team, are proud to reveal their partnership with the Agency for Sporting Ethics (ASE). This collaborative project will execute the most progressive anti-doping system in the professional sports world. All 23 of Slipstream/Chipotle’s athletes are voluntarily participating in the program which will test the athletes over 1200 times during 2007. This is more than 20 times the number of tests that most professional cyclists are subject to annually through its governing body, Union Cycliste International.
The testing program will be comprised of both blood and urine sampling and will focus on “bio-markers” as opposed to traditional, direct element testing. This type of testing looks for potentially illegal performance enhancing metabolic variances in the riders’ test results, as opposed trying to find specific substances. By adopting this innovative testing regimen, Slipstream Sports’ intention is to simply prevent any rider who could be doping from competing.
According to Slipstream Sports’ Chairman and majority owner, Doug Ellis, “This sends a simple message to our athletes: Do not dope or you will not compete.” Ellis continues, “It is our genuine hope that by setting an example of our willingness to invest into regaining the public’s trust, reestablishing cycling’s credibility, and rekindling hope of fair sport, that other professional athletes and teams will follow us and put their resources and effort into this push for renewal.”
The goal of this intense testing and scrutiny of Slipstream/Chipotle’s athletes is threefold:
1. To protect each rider’s health
2. To ensure that no matter what pressures exist, the implicit and explicit message given to the riders from staff and sponsors is always consistent: “DO NOT DOPE”
3. To protect the core integrity and mission of Slipstream Sports LLC and to protect the image of current and future partners.
Finally, Slipstream §ports LLC and ASE would like to thank the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for inviting us to visit and present our project to them. Vaughters states, “I would like to make it clear that this program is in addition to the testing WADA already performs, not in place of it. We are enthusiastic and hopeful that, through collaboration, our test results, procedures, and execution can be used to further WADA’s already noble mission. In exchange for their valuable insight, we have offered WADA complete oversight and transparency of our efforts and have invited them to use the complete body of information in any way they deem most useful. It is our sincere wish that the information this project produces will help WADA’s fight against doping in future years and encourage a trusting bond between teams, athletes, and WADA.”
About Slipstream Sports Founded in 2005, Slipstream Sports LLC is a highly progressive sports management company dedicated solely to promoting the ethical growth of American cycling.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Media Inquiries and Interviews, Contact:
Marya Pongrace
O: 212-931-6142
C: 347-698-3412
mpongrace@peppercom.com
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