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MILAN - International cycling's top official said the system where medical certificates are presented to explain the use of otherwise banned substances is being exploited.
International Cycling Union (UCI) President Pat McQuaid on Saturday called for new and more stringent anti-doping rules to close possible loopholes.
"There are too many (certificates), the moment has come to study new and more rigorous rules," McQuaid told Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview.
"There are many riders that truly need to use these substances but we realise also that the system has been coerced. There are those who profit from it."
Italian rider Alessandro Petacchi goes before an anti-doping hearing on Monday after testing positive for overly high levels of salbutamol during last month's Giro d'Italia.
Petacchi, hoping to compete in the Tour de France which starts next Saturday, has a certificate stating he can use a set amount of the substance in his asthma inhaler and wants to show that any overuse was only an oversight.
McQuaid wants all riders competing in the Tour to sign up to the UCI's new charter against doping but knows there is a long way to go.
"This sport is in danger because of doping. I cannot accept that doping is again tolerated," he said.
"It is called zero tolerance. The cyclists know it is the end of an era."
He also said that there was no news on a surprise test conducted on Giro winner Danilo Di Luca during last month's race. Di Luca meets Italian doping officials on Thursday over a 2004 probe.
- REUTERS
