That story isn't entirely accurate. He didn't tell riders when they "came close to testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs", he told them if their hematocrit levels were close to the prescribed limit, which isn't the same thing at all.
Thing is, the 50% limit was an entirely arbitrary number and pretty meaningless. A rider with a naturally low hematocrit could use EPO to boost it to maybe 45% and they'd be getting much more advantage than a rider with a naturally high hematocrit - say, 47%.
The bio passport should, in theory, be a much more useful guide to whether or not a rider is using EPO since it reveals abnormal changes in blood levels over time.
I'm no fan of Verbruggen, but if you consider that one of the reasons for banning EPO is that it was killing young riders, warning them when their blood levels were getting dangerously high seems a sensible move.
On the other hand, the UCI could have done an awful lot more to combat EPO use if they'd really wanted to.
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