Team Raleigh rider Dan Fleeman has announced that he will be publishing his blood profile results exclusively on the BikePure.org website this coming season. Fleeman, who recently signed a contract with the new Raleigh continental professional team rode for ProTour team Cérvelo for the 2009 season.

Fleeman previously rode for Sean Kelly's An-Post team in 2008 and hit the headlines when he won the prestigious Tour of the Pyrenees stage race and finished 7th overall in the Tour of Britain. Former British U23 Road Race Champion Fleeman was one of the first pro riders to form part of Bike Pure's anti-doping organization, aimed at restoring integrity to pro cycling after numerous doping scandals that have left the sport with a mountain to climb as regards integrity and honesty.

During Fleeman's time at the Cervelo team in 2009, it was mandatory that all riders on the team form part of the Bio-Passport programme, where riders provide blood and urine samples at various stages of the season. These results are then analyzed by a select team of Doctors. If any rider's results are deemed suspicious, then the authorities or governing bodies can impose sanctions on the rider.

Because Fleeman has moved to Team Raleigh for 2010, a UCI Continental team, they fall outside the UCI's bio-passport programme, meaning riders on the team won't form part of the anti-doping programme, although will still subject to tests at events. Fleeman has often used his blood profile results to analyze the findings himself and found them a useful part of his training programme, "During early 2009 I had a time where I was very tired, I wasn't sure whether this was due to over training or a virus. On analysis of my blood profile I was able to determine that I was in fact anaemic and by taking some basic iron supplements, eating iron rich foods and restricting my dairy and coffee intake I was back to normal iron levels again." Like many professional cyclists, Fleeman has produced many blood and urine samples throughout his career and he feels its a worthwhile exercise. He recognises it is an important way to show he is clean, while also having the secondary benefit of updating the rider as to their physical condition. "The advantages of being able to see your own blood profile is an excellent way to determine how healthy (or unhealthy) you are in many ways."

Fleeman's 2009 season with Cervelo didn't go as he had planned. A broken wrist in May put him off the bike for several weeks and he only returned to race fitness towards the end of the season. "I had a difficult season at Cervelo, my results weren't as good as I would have liked but I'm training hard for 2010 and very motivated to prove myself in Team Raleigh. With the unfortunate distrust there is within the sport, if I have a great season, some small minded people will point the finger saying that as I'm no longer part of the bio-passport, the temptation to dope may be there. I wish to show, as I have done throughout my career that an athlete can be competitive in top level cycling without doping."

Fleeman also feels his testing will be more rigorous than that of the bio-passport, "Under the bio-passport riders have to be tested at least four times in any one year, whereas I will be testing every six weeks." More notably, Fleeman will go further than most riders. He will be emailing his personal results and data directly to the UCI and, should they feel the need to scrutinize them further, the tests conducted will be the same as those the UCI carry out under the main bio-passport.

Blood testing can be expensive though, and Fleeman will be paying for the testing himself with his results published on the Bike Pure website and open for scrutiny. "I would have liked to have been tested more often but Dr Michael Stokes, who will be carrying out the tests, advised against this as the volume of blood taken can have a detrimental effect on performance and iron levels."

Bike Pure feel this is a very positive move by the young professional, "To have a rider of Dan's ability, go out of his way to provide the public with open and transparent analysis of his own blood levels on our website goes a long way. He'll have a busy season ahead anyway and to show his strong anti-doping stance says a lot about him as a person. Clearly the health aspects are a pivotal source of information for Dan and if this helps him gain the success he so deserves then that can only be a good thing for the sport of cycling."

Fleeman has already started the testing and results from tests he undertook in October and December 2009 will be available on the Bike Pure website from next week. As and when additional results become available Bike Pure will publish them.