World cycling's governing body, the UCI, is to ban painkiller tramadol from March 1 and will punish offenders with penalties ranging from a fine to a nine-month suspension. While the synthetic opinoid is widely available on the Internet and is not currently on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list, the tramadol ban was a campaign pledge of UCI president David Lappartient.

The UCI said a first offence would mean an event disqualification and fine, a second offence a five-month suspension going up to nine months for a third infraction. "The ban is aimed at preserving the rider's health and safety in light of the side-effects of tramadol, across all disciplines and categories," the UCI said.

"The use of tramadol can have two types of side-effect: nausea, drowsiness and loss of concentration (increasing the risk of race crashes), and gradual dependence on the substance with a risk of developing an addiction."

The UCI decision was hailed by the "Mouvement pour un cyclisme credible" - the MPCC association which backs clean cycling and groups together seven of the 18 World Tour teams and 76% of the second division Pro-Continental teams.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019