The UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal has handed now-retired bike owner Franck Bonnamour a four-year ban resulting from an ‘unexplained abnormality’ in his Athlete Organic Passport courting again to 2022.
The UCI confirmed the choice in a press launch issued on Thursday, which acknowledged that the suspension could be backdated to start February 5, 2024, and can stay enforced till February 4, 2028.
“The Tribunal discovered that Franck Bonnamour had dedicated an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) to be used of a prohibited substance or a prohibited technique resulting from an unexplained abnormality in his Athlete Organic Passport (*) in 2022. As a consequence, the Tribunal has imposed a four-year interval of ineligibility on the rider,” the assertion learn.
It’s possible you’ll like
The UCI confirmed that Bonnamour’s athlete’s organic passport, which can be utilized to detect indicators of doping over time, confirmed irregular readings in 2022. Bonnamour accomplished the Tour de France in that yr whereas racing for B&B Resorts-KTM.
Nevertheless, it was earlier reported that Bonnamour’s case was based mostly on a check taken throughout the penultimate stage of the 2022 Tour de France – when Bonnamour is claimed to have been struggling COVID-19 signs and dehydration – and an out-of-competition check from October 2018.
The game governing physique first introduced his provisional suspension in February 2024, whereas he was in his second yr of a contract with Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, and no specifics got on what facet of the organic passport wherein his values deviated from the norm.
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale fired Bonnamour in late March 2024, citing the case that dated to “checks carried out earlier than his arrival within the workforce on January 1, 2023.”
Within the meantime, Bonnamour continued to struggle his case, insisting that he was harmless of the fees. Nevertheless, he later introduced his retirement throughout the investigation and acknowledged that he ended his struggle in opposition to the ban, citing monetary pressure.
“It is too expensive in monetary phrases, so I am stopping. We needed to begin proceedings earlier than the UCI tribunal earlier than going to the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport,” Bonnamour instructed Ouest-Francein November of 2024.
“If we had been profitable, the UCI would have appealed, which might have pushed again the deadline by a yr and a half, rising the prices. I am unable to afford to lose every part, and that is holding me again financially.”
