An amateur cyclist already serving a four-year ban for an anti-doping rule violation has been handed a second ban of the same length after his sample was retested following a tip-off and found to contain EPO.
Former national 12-hour time trial champion Robin Townsend, aged 47, tested positive for the banned stimulant modafinil in September 2015 after finishing ninth at the Burton and District Cycling Alliance 100 Miles event organised under Cycling Time Trials rules.
He claimed that his drink had been spiked by a rival, but in January this year, UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) announced that he had been banned from all sport for four years, with his suspension running from 8 October 2016 to 7 October 2019.
> British amateur banned for doping says rival spiked his drink
The sanction had been imposed by a written decision of the UKAD’s Anti-Doping Tribunal on 22 December 2015, following a hearing on 1 December 2015.
In between those dates, based on intelligence it had received, on 8 December 2015 UKAD asked the World-Anti Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory at Kings College London, where the samples were stored, to retest the A sample for EPO, resulting in an adverse analytical finding of the banned blood booster.
According to the full decision published on 3 October 2016, Townsend’s representatives say he “vehemently” denied taking EPO and had “absolutely no idea how such a prohibited substance could have been present in the sample.”
Townsend, who did not attend the hearing on the EPO charge either in person or by telephone and did not seek a retest of the B sample, was handed another four-year ban which will run concurrently with his original ban, given the same samples were involved in both instances.
Pat Myhill, director of operations at UKAD, commented: “The receipt and use of information and intelligence is critical to delivering an effective anti-doping programme.
“In the case of Robin Townsend, we received intelligence, which we assessed and acted upon by undertaking additional analysis of the original sample. This has resulted in a further adverse analytical finding.
“We encourage anyone with information about doping to come forward and speak to us,” he added.
“No matter how small the piece of information is, you can help shape what we do by talking to us in confidence via reportdoping.com,” he added.
14 thoughts on “British amateur rider banned for doping tests positive for EPO”
Should have watched CSI.
Should have watched CSI. Loads of dodgy blood sample excuses on that show.
Wouldn’t it be nice if for
Wouldn’t it be nice if for once someone just said ‘yes, it’s a fair cop’?
Pathetic.
He need look no further than
He need look no further than British Amateur Cycling for one of the best ever….
Who hasn’t fallen foul of a contaminated VitB12 syringe? http://road.cc/content/news/172965-four-year-ban-using-steroids-amateur-british-cyclist
How was the full decision
How was the full decision published on 3 October 2017? Or, rather: how do we know that it will have had been?
(sorry, my time travel vocab is a bit rusty).
It’s a bit stupid that he’s
It’s a bit stupid that he’s just been issued with another 4 year ban. Why not a life ban if he’s dumb enough to do the same thing twice?
Rapha Nadal wrote:
He didn’t. It’s the same sample, as the article says.
Simon_MacMichael wrote:
It’s a bit stupid that he’s just been issued with another 4 year ban. Why not a life ban if he’s dumb enough to do the same thing twice?
— Simon_MacMichael
He didn’t. It’s the same sample, as the article says.
— Rapha Nadal
I’ve heard differently from a different source.
“vehemently” denies it yet
“vehemently” denies it yet doesn’t show up to defend himself …. hhmmmmmm
Can’t think of anything more
Can’t think of anything more depressing than a 47-year-old guy charging EPO to come 9th in a local TT.
Jackson wrote:
Indeed.
(Well, I can think of plenty of things “more depressing”, but I know what you mean.) 😉
“Given the imposition of a
“Given the imposition of a concurrent sanction, some may question the need for or purpose of these proceedings. To that UKAD submited that there is a legitimate public interest both in (1) detecting amateur cyclists who cheat by using EPO, and (2) informing amateur cyclists and the wider public that UKAD will test samples for the presence of such.”
I.E. Had you taken your medicine like a good boy, that would’ve been that. You want to make up ridiculous stories, why don’t you come up with one for how your blood got spiked with EPO? No rush, now, take your time.
And yes, I’m a little bitter that I gave this guy the benefit of the doubt.
T#sser
T#sser
To be fair he was a national
To be fair he was a national champion, so if they want to make it really stick then remove his results. Give the awards to the next down the list (until you get to the one who didn’t get caught) as should have been the case with LAs wins then at least someone could go and ask for the medals shirts etc!
I’d totally love to try some
I’d totally love to try some EPO to destroy my Strava times. Is that bad?