British cyclist Jonathan Tiernan-Locke was suspended for two years and fired by Team Sky on Thursday for doping.
Tiernan-Locke was banned for discrepancies in his biological passport, which tracks a rider’s blood profile over time to look for evidence of doping, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said.
Team Sky said it terminated his contract “with immediate effect” after receiving the UCI’s confirmation of the doping offense.
Photo: AFP
The UCI announced in December last year that Tiernan-Locke faced a disciplinary hearing after analysis of his biological passport showed “use of prohibited substances and/or methods.”
His suspension was listed on Thursday on the UCI Web site. His ban lasts through Dec. 31 next year.
Tiernan-Locke won the Tour of Britain in 2012 and was considered the next big star in British cycling.
Team Sky has produced the past two Tour de France champions, British riders Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and Chris Froome last year.
The suspicious readings in Tiernan-Locke’s biological passport were taken in September 2012, shortly before he signed a two-year contract with Team Sky and three months before his first race with the team.
“Jonathan’s contract has been terminated today,” Sky principal Dave Brailsford said. “Whilst there have been no doubts about his time with us, his doping violation — from readings taken before he joined this team — means there’s no place for him in Team Sky. We’ve a well-known stance on anti-doping and our action is the inevitable outcome of a violation. This is a team that trains, races and wins clean.”
Sky said Tiernan-Locke’s biological passport was not reviewed until the spring of last year, once anti-doping authorities collected enough readings.
Tiernan-Locke had not raced for the team since September last year and had not taken part in any team activities since he was formally notified of the violation on Dec. 16 last year.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier