The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) released its 2022 Testing Figures Report last week, providing a detailed analysis of all the samples WADA accredited laboratories analyzed and reported for the year. Scoring the highest percentage of positive anti-doping test results (Adverse Analytical Findings) for cycling, or where the sport is likely to have the highest percentage of drug cheaters, is The Americas.

Although the International Cycling Union collected and tested the most anti-doping samples (8,310 primarily from the professional peloton), the rate of positivity was very, very low at 0.03%.

But geographically, The America’s ended up with some of the highest percentages of positive doping results for cycling: Argentina 13.8% from 29 samples, Uruguay 10.0% – 30, Ecuador 5.6% – 36, Costa Rica 3.4% – 116, Guatemala 3.4% – 29, Cuba 2.4% – 83, Brazil 1.7% – 179, Chile 1.5% – 200 and USA 1.4% – 628. Notably, Mexico and Canada did not have any positive results from 199 collected samples.

In Europe, Italy continues to have the largest anti-doping program, particularly for amateurs, collecting 1,210 samples that yielded 21 positive test results, or 1.6%. But Germany was the most successful at reducing the prevalence of doping, testing 981 samples at a very low and commendable 0.03% positivity, with France 1.1% from 929 samples. Although testing sample sizes were smaller, other prominent results include Ukraine 2.8%, Monaco 4.5%, Serbia 5.3%, Uzbekistan 6.7%, Israel 7.1%, Armenia 12.5% and Sri Lanka with a staggering 25.0%.

In total for the year, 22,551 anti-doping samples were collected worldwide from cyclists by National Anti-Doping Agencies, with an average positivity rate of 0.05%.

Photo Credit: WADA

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