Team Medscheme strongly anti-doping

Monday, 20 December 2010 15:42

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Team Medscheme takes strong anti-drug stance

In a year that saw two top South African professional road cyclists suspended for testing positive for banned substances as well as Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, failing a doping test, Team Medscheme continued its quest to prove that it’s possible to race – and win – without pharmaceutical assistance.

Team Medscheme won 35 races in 2010, substantially more than any other South African-based professional men’s road racing team. Six of those were international wins, while the domestic victories included the three largest races in the country, Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour, MTN Amashova and Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge.

With 409 career victories to date, team owner Malcolm Lange, is the most prolific race winner of the modern South African era. He’s also a fierce anti-doping campaigner and has instilled this intolerance for illegal-substance reliance in his team.

As the most successful team of 2010, Team Medscheme riders are tested regularly, both immediately after a race as well as out of competition, usually by surprise visits from anti-doping officials early in the morning, or at night.

“Sure, it’s a bit of an inconvenience when the officials from SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport arrive at your house – or at your hotel if you’re travelling – to take a urine sample, but as Team Medscheme we embrace this action. It’s proactive and shows that the fight to clean up cycle racing is relentless. We support all efforts to rid sport of doping,” said Lange.

Team Medscheme publishes all of the out-of-competition results of its rider’s tests on its website under the heading ‘We are drug-free athletes’. The in-competition results are not shared by the SA Institute for Drug-free Sport, but are about triple the amount of out of competition tests that were done on the team in 2010.

“It’s so important to have this transparency. We have nothing to hide,” said Lange. “With so many tests done and not one of them returning a positive, Team Medscheme has proved – and will continue to prove –that it’s possible to win purely and honestly.

“Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of each professional athlete to ensure he or she doesn’t infringe the anti-doping rules. But as a team, we offer additional rider education and the highest quality sports nutrition supplements to ensure our riders’ pre-, during- and post-race energy and recovery needs are taken care of,” said Lange.

To view Team Medscheme’s anti-doping efforts in detail, visit www.teammedscheme.co.za and click on the ‘We are drug-free athletes’ tab.

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