Four-year ban for doping

CYCLISTS will face four-year bans next season if found guilty of serious doping offences.

International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid plans to double the penalty from two years to four in "aggravating circumstances".

The longer bans would be given in cases such as those of Bernhard Kohl, Riccardo Ricco and Stefan Schumacher, who tested positive for the banned endurance-boosting drug CERA during the Tour de France last July.

"I have said before that I would like to see them out of the sport for good," McQuaid said. "However, we are obliged to follow the world anti-doping code, and that is what the UCI will do."