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New drink-driving ban for Jonathan Tiernan-LockeJonathan Tiernan-Locke (licensed on Flickr by denismenchov08 under CC-BY-SA 2.0)

New drink-driving ban for Jonathan Tiernan-Locke

Ex-Team Sky pro who was banned for doping has second drink-driving ban imposed in less than two years
by Simon_MacMichael
Mon, Apr 24, 2017 12:45
39

Ex-Team Sky rider Jonathan Tiernan-Locke has been banned from driving for the second time in less than two years.

Magistrates in Bodmin banned the 32-year-old from driving for 41 months and fined him £315, reports Devon Live.

The Plymouth-born former professional cyclist pleaded guilty to being twice the drink-drive limit when police stopped him in his Ford Ranger at St Ann’s Chapel in Cornwall last November.

Tiernan-Locke’s previous ban from driving came in July 2015, when he was banned for 17 months, subsequently reduced by a quarter after he attended a drink drive rehabilitation course.

> Tiernan-Locke handed ban for drink-driving

At the time, he was serving a two-year anti-doping ban for irregularities in his biological passport, which he claimed were caused by a drinking binge to celebrate his signing for Team Sky.

Tiernan-Locke, who was also stripped of his 2012 Tour of Britain win, returned to racing last year after his drugs ban expired.

However, he was only given a Category 2 licence by British Cycling and has now retired from the sport.

> Tiernan-Locke won’t be returning to pro cycling

Jonathan Tiernan-Locke
drink-driving
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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39 comments

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rliu | 7 years ago
8 likes

The bloke is patently a scumbag, time the cycling world stopped caring about him.

Avatar
barongreenback replied to rliu | 7 years ago
27 likes

rliu wrote:

The bloke is patently a scumbag, time the cycling world stopped caring about him.

 

I think the correct analysis would be that he is suffering from a combination of alcohol addiction and mental health issues.  I hope he gets the help he needs to stop him being a danger to both himself and other people.

Avatar
typekitty replied to barongreenback | 7 years ago
6 likes

barongreenback wrote:

rliu wrote:

The bloke is patently a scumbag, time the cycling world stopped caring about him.

 

I think the correct analysis would be that he is suffering from a combination of alcohol addiction and mental health issues.  I hope he gets the help he needs to stop him being a danger to both himself and other people.

My thoughts exactly.

Avatar
rliu replied to barongreenback | 7 years ago
3 likes
barongreenback wrote:

rliu wrote:

The bloke is patently a scumbag, time the cycling world stopped caring about him.

 

I think the correct analysis would be that he is suffering from a combination of alcohol addiction and mental health issues.  I hope he gets the help he needs to stop him being a danger to both himself and other people.

I think you give him undue leeway. He is unrepentant about his drinking and also tried to use it as an excuse to cover up doping, saying an all night bender caused his suspect biological passport values. Where is the evidence that he wants to reform? I don't count a court ordered drink driving course as self driven desire to change.

Avatar
barongreenback replied to rliu | 7 years ago
6 likes

rliu wrote:
barongreenback wrote:

rliu wrote:

The bloke is patently a scumbag, time the cycling world stopped caring about him.

 

I think the correct analysis would be that he is suffering from a combination of alcohol addiction and mental health issues.  I hope he gets the help he needs to stop him being a danger to both himself and other people.

I think you give him undue leeway. He is unrepentant about his drinking and also tried to use it as an excuse to cover up doping, saying an all night bender caused his suspect biological passport values. Where is the evidence that he wants to reform? I don't count a court ordered drink driving course as self driven desire to change.

Alcoholism is an illness and not a choice.   I can't diagnose sitting from here but there is a pattern emerging.  Many alcoholics are outed by a drink driving conviction but that in itself is rarely enough to fix the problem.  Treating addition is incredibly complex, time consuming and painful.  

Avatar
mike the bike replied to barongreenback | 7 years ago
1 like

barongreenback wrote:

 Alcoholism is an illness and not a choice.  ........  

 

You may be right in this relatively modern theory, I don't know.  But it seems to me that, partly in the light of such opinions, you can be addicted to almost anything now.  Sex, gambling, video games and food all spring to mind and I wonder what's next.  Paedophilia?

Avatar
madcarew replied to mike the bike | 5 years ago
0 likes

mike the bike wrote:

barongreenback wrote:

 Alcoholism is an illness and not a choice.  ........  

 

You may be right in this relatively modern theory, I don't know.  But it seems to me that, partly in the light of such opinions, you can be addicted to almost anything now.  Sex, gambling, video games and food all spring to mind and I wonder what's next.  Paedophilia?

Yes. You can be addicted to pretty much anything. Alcohol, Porn, exercising, washing your hands too much, sitting at a computer reading commenting on news stories, sitting on a computer inhabiting imaginary worlds (gaming).  Addiction is a psychological issue largely, though some drugs have physiologically addictive properties, but yes, you can be addicted to pretty much anything. As you suggest there are people out there with sexual addictions. 

Avatar
Valbrona replied to barongreenback | 7 years ago
0 likes

barongreenback wrote:

rliu wrote:

The bloke is patently a scumbag, time the cycling world stopped caring about him.

I think the correct analysis would be that he is suffering from a combination of alcohol addiction and mental health issues.  I hope he gets the help he needs to stop him being a danger to both himself and other people.

You are never far from a liberal apologist for a wrong-doer in this country, are you?

There are lots of people with alcohol/mental health issues who are responsible and perceptive enough to know that driving a vehicle when you are twice the limit is a bad thing to do.

If a drink driver were to turn you into a paraplaegic one day maybe hearing that 'alcohol addiction/MHP's' excuse in Court might change your thinking on people like JT-L a little?

Avatar
HalfWheeler replied to rliu | 7 years ago
6 likes

rliu wrote:

The bloke is patently a scumbag, time the cycling world stopped caring about him.

Steady on...

Doper, cheat, liar; it's a matter of public record he's all three. But I've got a fair bt of sympathy for him. He took a risk with PEDs and it blew up in his face spectacularly . I can imagine the life he knew up to that point came to a crashing halt. Two drunk driving convictions makes him a dickhead, for sure, but it also hints at a life out of control hell bent on self destruction. He needs help, I hope he gets it.  

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