{"id":160604,"date":"2025-09-26T01:04:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T01:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/160604\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T01:04:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T01:04:04","slug":"wada-to-ban-carbon-monoxide-rebreathers-as-a-performance-aid-from-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/160604\/","title":{"rendered":"WADA to ban carbon monoxide rebreathers as a performance aid from 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The World Anti-Doping Agency has followed the UCI’s crackdown on carbon monoxide rebreathing and added the use of the gas as a performance-enhancer\u00a0to its prohibited list, starting from\u00a02026.<\/p>\n

The non-diagnostic use has been added to the list, as \u201cit can increase erythropoiesis under certain conditions,\u201d WADA has stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Erythropoiesis, or the production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, can be stimulated by the inhalation of carbon monoxide. However, in sufficient doses,\u00a0the inhalation of this gas can be fatal, raising safety fears about riders potentially risking their health for performance gains.<\/p>\n

This stimulates the type of hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, that would occur at high altitude levels. Training camps in high altitude\u00a0have become standard for professional cyclists, as hypoxic exercise improves\u00a0the body’s ability to use\u00a0oxygen during exercise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The gas can still be used as a diagnostic tool. For example, it could be used during altitude camp to track a rider\u2019s progress over a block of training, as it provides an accurate means of measuring haemoglobin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

>\u00a0What is carbon monoxide rebreathing and why is the entire Tour de France talking about it? Tadej Poga\u010dar and Jonas Vingegaard insist it’s “nothing suspicious” and “just a simple test”, but others are less convinced<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCarbon monoxide for diagnostic purposes, such as total haemoglobin mass measurements or the determination of pulmonary diffusion capacity, is not prohibited,\u201d stated\u00a0WADA in the summary of major modifications to the 2026 Prohibited List.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current wording was chosen to differentiate between illicit use and the intake resulting from natural combustion processes (e.g. smoking), the environment (e.g. exhaust gases) or diagnostic procedures.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This follows controversy after a report by the\u00a0Escape Collective<\/a>\u00a0website, which stated that UAE Team Emirates, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Israel-Premier Tech allegedly used carbon monoxide during the 2024 Tour de France.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The teams of Jonas Vingegaard and\u00a0Tadej Poga\u010dar confirmed that they had access to the equipment for testing, but any alternative use has not been proven.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TadejTadej Poga\u010dar and Jonas Vingegaard, 2024 Tour de France (credit: ASO\/Charly Lopez)<\/p>\n

Both\u00a0Poga\u010dar and\u00a0Vingegaard\u00a0admitted at the 2024 Tour de France that they had previously used carbon monoxide rebreathers, but within the context of testing.<\/p>\n

“It’s to measure how much haemoglobin you have in your blood.\u00a0There is nothing suspicious about it,\u201d said Jonas Vingegaard.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThey [the doctors] say that they send something into the lungs that is similar to smoking a cigarette. We measure the day we get to our high-altitude camp and then [on] the day we go back down. Then we see the difference in how much haemoglobin is built up. There is nothing more to it.”<\/p>\n

>\u00a0UCI confirms imminent ban on carbon monoxide rebreathing “outside a medical facility”, citing health reasons\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the teams denying its exploitation\u00a0for direct performance-enhancing gain, former DSM-Firmenich PostNL climber Romain Bardet believed it could be used to enhance performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see the studies. Anything is possible. I have never heard of anything but at the same time, I would not be surprised.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is so much research being done with the idea of \u200b\u200boptimising performance. Ten years ago, there were lots of promises about altitude. Everyone was getting involved, it was a bit of a panacea. We know exactly where it can take us.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not surprising that there are certain researchers, certain teams, certain cyclists who are looking elsewhere. There will always be the desire to seek competitive advantages.\u201d<\/p>\n

WADA’s statement follows the UCI in February announcing\u00a0a ban on the\u00a0“repeated inhalation” of carbon monoxide “outside a medical facility”,\u00a0claiming that the controversial method of measuring an athlete’s haemoglobin can cause chronic health problems if used frequently.<\/p>\n

Cycling’s governing body\u00a0proposed its plans for the ban in December last year, and the new regulation means that teams and riders are forbidden from being in the possession of commercially available carbon monoxide rebreathing devices connected to oxygen and carbon monoxide cylinders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The World Anti-Doping Agency has followed the UCI’s crackdown on carbon monoxide rebreathing and added the use of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-160604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}