Stewart, Sentjens face two-year doping bans
Two new doping bans have been handed out on Wednesday and Thursday. The Union Cycliste Internationale handed a two-year ban to Roy Sentjens when an out-of-competition test administered on 16 August found him positive for EPO (erythropoietin). New Zealander Adam Stewart has received his own two-year ban by the New Zealand Sports Tribunal for the attempt to use EPO and the possession of human chorionic gonadotropin.
“There’s more to being a professional athlete than just being able to ride a bike fast and we want to develop leadership and responsibility within all who represent us on the world stage,” said BikeNZ CEO Kieran Turner. “Our riders have been part of developing those values and there’s been a buy-in from everyone involved in our program. Adam Stewart knows what he has done has clearly broken that trust.”
Stewart had been on his way to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India with a squad of New Zealand sprinters. The team has been training and competing through the US and Europe for the last two months. BikeNZ informed Stewart that he was being investigated by Drug Free Sport New Zealand, and he agreed to leave the team without complaint.
“Our organisation from the Board, staff, stakeholders, coaches and Adam’s team-mates are extremely disappointed and feel let down by his actions,” he said. “This is a young man who has made a very silly mistake and he therefore must pay the consequences of his actions.”
Team Milram has lost Sentjens to a similar punishment, only adding to their trouble as they try to find sponsorship for the 2011 season before it’s too late. The lack of a secure funding has led most of the Milram’s top riders to sign with other, more stable teams, and last week their bike sponsor ended their partnership.
"The decision to provisionally suspend Mr. Sentjens was made in response to a report from the WADA accredited laboratory in Cologne indicating an Adverse Analytical Finding of Recombinant EPO in a urine sample collected from his at an out-of-competition test on 16 August 2010," states the UCI press release.
The suspension will be made official and binding when Sentjens B-Sample is proven positive. The rider joined Milram for the 2010 season, from team Silence-Lotto, and had one of his best seasons, boosting the team’s classics results spectacularly.
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