UCI President David Lapartien admitted that the recent low number of positive doping tests is not necessarily a cause for celebration as the sports governing body explains its new approach to combating cheating.

The UCI early last year handed over the task of policing the sport from the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation, which it established itself in 2008, to the International Testing Agency (ITA), which already performs similar functions for many international sports federations.

The decision and whether the ITA could adequately handle the demands and complexities of cycling's anti-doping program had been a question mark. This week, the two organizations held an event to discuss progress and future challenges, and both naturally declared the partnership a success.

After the alarming fallout from the pandemic, testing levels have returned to near the levels that CADF will implement in 2019. However, the number of positive tests declined, totaling nine, of which only two were from fully professional riders and none from the World Tour.

"If there are no positive results, that is good news for the UCI. But we are not naive enough to believe that there is no more doping," said Lapartiento.

The Frenchman expressed his belief that "education" is responsible for what he described as a "new philosophy" in the pro peloton, noting that many of the current young generation were born in the wake of past scandals and "grew up with the fight against doping in their blood."

He acknowledged, however, that the threat of doping has not disappeared.

"We must always stay awake to the fight against doping. Doping is something that can really come back if we slow down our efforts. [Doping] can and probably will continue to happen, but our message to cheaters is that we will catch them."

In slight contrast, Lapartiento later stated: "Our goal is not to catch cheaters, but to prevent them from cheating."

In this regard, he acknowledged that testing is not everything and explained that part of the ITA's mandate is to improve intelligence-driven investigations; UCI Secretary General Amina Lanaya said that the UCI had given the ITA "carte blanche" in this regard, while Lapartiento said that such activities were an important part of the switch from the CADF, she explained.

"It was not a good scale to do this just at the CADF level. Because most of the doping issues are not contained within just one sport, but work in a network that spans many different sports.

The ITA did not comment on whether its efforts to date have yielded any results, but claimed that information obtained through whistleblower platforms has contributed to its investigative activities.

Improving storage capacity so that samples can be reanalyzed up to 10 years after collection if new scientific methods come to light is also recognized as a "strong part" of the ITA's new program and a broader "restraining effect."

Meanwhile, Lapartiento used the recent controversy over tennis French Open champion Rafael Nadal's foot injections to boast that the rules in cycling are much stricter than in other sports. He emphasized the ban on tramadol and his outreach to the World Anti-Doping Agency over corticoids, and also pointed to the custom-made research the UCI is doing on ketones.

"We are very alert to new [doping] substances and methods. If we notice something, we act," Lapartiento insisted.

"In terms of credibility in the fight against doping, what we lose in five minutes we can only regain in 20 years. We have accomplished so much and regained so much trust, but we are not going to compromise now."

Nevertheless, he suggested that the anti-doping program is currently underfunded.

"It is valuable, but the cost to us is about 8 million Swiss francs, and we will probably need more in the future. We will probably have to increase it more in the future."

"We are talking with the officials to increase the contribution by 20-25%.