Former Danish rider Michael Rasmussen, who in January admitted to doping throughout his 12-year career from 1998 to 2010, made claims that Canadians Ryder Hesjedal, winner of the 2012 Giro d'Italia, Chris Sheppard and Seamus McGrath doped in 2003 in his new book Yellow Fever.

"The allegations towards Chris Sheppard, Seamus McGrath and Ryder Hesjedal dating back to 2003 are another example of why the international federation [UCI] needs to come to agreement with WADA on a way to deal with such allegations of historic doping," read a Cycling Canada statement.

The national governing body, which says it "has always taken a strong stance against doping" and pledged to ensure those breaking the rules "will be punished to the fullest extent allowed by the anti-doping regulations", is concerned that because the WADA Code has a statute of limitations of eight years the cases will not result in anti-doping rule violations.

It also speaks of hopes that the UCI and WADA will work together to create an amnesty programme relating to doping outside of the eight-year window that would "allow cycling to deal with historic cases" and says it has been working on its own programmes, despite honesty proving to be a problem.

The allegations also implicate Seamus McGrath


"Since the Lance Armstrong USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) report and findings, Cycling Canada has been working with Canada's national anti-doping organisation, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports (CCES), to get to the heart of the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) in Canadian cycling," the statement said.

"The fact that athletes are not willing to speak out about their personal experiences with doping remains a serious stumbling block in this pursuit."

While reiterating that "doping has no place in our sport", it called on Hesjedal, Sheppard and McGrath to come forward with any information they have on the issue of doping in cycling.

"It remains our hope that they will come forward should they have information that can assist in the fight against doping," it said.

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