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Riders will face four-year doping bans from 2009 for "wilful cheating," International Cycling Union (UCI) President Pat McQuaid was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

The current maximum sanction is two years but McQuaid told a cycling news website (www.cyclingnews.com) that the period would be doubled from next year.

"I have said before that I would like to see them (drug cheats) out of the sport for good," McQuaid said.

"That is purely on a personal level. However, we are obliged to follow the world anti-doping code, and that is what the UCI will do."

McQuaid said the current world anti-doping code stipulated a maximum two-year sanction in the case of a positive test.

"From the first of January there is a bit more flexibility in it, and we can go up to a four-year ban in the cases of something regarded as wilful cheating."

McQuaid said riders Bernhard Kohl and Stefan Schumacher, who failed tests for a new form of the blood-boosting drug EPO on this year's Tour de France, would fall under that category.

"In these cases, considering that these guys were given the product and then went and took it for the Tour de France, it would be very much classified as wilful cheating," he added.

"Next year a rider in that position would face a four-year ban."

Austrian Kohl, who finished as best climber and third overall on the Tour, and his German Gerolsteiner team mate Schumacher, the winner of the race's two time trials, both tested positive for CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator).

Those positive tests, along with that of Italy's Leonardo Piepoli this month, came after the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) retroactively tested blood samples for the new type of erythropoietin (EPO).

AFLD President Pierre Bordry told reporters Tuesday that the retesting process had been completed and no new positive tests were to be expected.

(Source: Reuters)