The World Anti-Doping Agency moved to ban the opioid painkiller tramadol from competition after 2024 at its Executive Committee meeting in Sydney this week.

Tramadol is already banned from in-competition use under UCI anti-doping rules, and Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) was caught in testing at the 2022 Tour de France.

Quintana disputes the dried blood spot analysis that found traces of addictive painkillers.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport registered Quintana's case on September 1, but no date has yet been announced for the Colombian's hearing.

According to UCI rules, Quintana was found to have "tramadol and its two main metabolites" in samples taken after the two summit finishes of stages 7 and 11 of the Tour (La Planche des Belles Filles and Col de Granon, respectively). and faces disqualification from the Tour de France and a fine of 5,000 Swiss francs.

Quintana finished sixth overall in the Tour de France and is fighting to meet the sporting standard of being among the top 18 teams in the 2020-2022 rankings in order to qualify for the UCI World Tour in 2023.

However, after 2024, the stakes for a positive tramadol will be much higher and athletes will face multi-year bans to provide "extensive communication and education to athletes, their entourage and medical personnel," according to a WADA press release, WADA deferred adding opioids to the 2023 ban list.

"It will also ensure fairness for athletes by giving the scientific community time to coordinate the precise procedural details.

Tramadol is not banned out-of-competition, but urine tests have reportedly detected the drug up to four days after last use, while blood tests are believed to detect the drug only within 24 hours of last use.

The ban comes after nearly a decade of lobbying by the MPCC, which has argued that riders abuse painkillers to ease the effects of muscle fatigue and improve performance.

UCI began testing tramadol in 2019 after several public admissions of tramadol abuse.

In 2012, former Team Sky member Jonathan Tiernan-Locke claimed that Tramadol was being offered "freely" around the British national team." I was not convinced. Why would I want painkillers when I was "pain free?"

Team Sky told Cycling News that painkillers were "minimally" prescribed in 2013. And in 2014, former Team Sky member Michael Barry told The Times that he used the pills and "felt euphoric, but it was also hard to concentrate. The pain in my legs goes away and I can push really hard."

In 2018, Leuwe Westra highlighted the use of a substance that is technically permitted but abused for performance enhancement. People say: "Why do you use tramadol?" [...]. The answer is simple: because it is allowed and because it helps me perform better. If I don't use it, someone else will. That's what cyclists think."

WADA has had this drug in its surveillance program for nearly a decade, collecting evidence of its use in sport and funding research to support tramadol's performance-enhancing qualities.

Despite the legalization of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in many areas, ExCo at this meeting officially supported maintaining the ban on cannabis.

THC is only prohibited in competition at a urinary threshold of 150 ng/mL. 'This threshold was raised from 15 ng/mL in 2013. Therefore, the high concentrations of cannabis required to cause an adverse analytical finding in today's competition would be consistent with a significantly impaired athlete or regular user," WADA wrote.

"In addition, with the inclusion of the "substances of abuse" provision in the regulations beginning in 2021, athletes who can prove that their THC use took place outside of competition and was unrelated to their performance in the sport, the previously possible two-year (or four-year) suspension which was previously one month, has now been significantly shortened to one month."

"WADA will continue its research in this area in relation to the potential performance-enhancing effects of THC, its impact on athlete health, and the perception of cannabis by athletes, professionals, and others worldwide," said WADA Executive Director Olivier Niggli.

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