Roman Kreuziger has been cleared by the Czech Olympic Committee to return to racing.
The Tinkoff-Saxo rider is free to return to racing, after the Czech governing body overturned the UCI’s (Union Cycliste Internationale) decision to suspend him on the grounds of anomalies in his biological passport.
Kreuziger was provisionally suspended by the UCI in early August, before the start of Tour of Poland, after questionable data in his biological passport indicated the possibility that he used performance enhancing drugs during the 2011 and 2012 seasons, while with the Astana team.
The Czech rider subsequently lodged an appeal against the ban with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but his efforts were rejected. As a result, Kreuziger missed the Vuelta a Espana.
However, as of yesterday, the Czech Olympic Committee found him ‘not guilty’.
The UCI has 30 days in which to appeal to CAS against the Czech Olympic Committee’s decision.
“At this stage, with the relevant appeal windows opened, the UCI will not make any further comment on the case,” it said in a short statement.
Stefano Feltrin, CEO of Tinkoff-Saxo said:
“It is now of great importance that the UCI make its next decisions and take any eventual actions on this matter swiftly".
“It is of paramount importance – in the interest of all involved parties in particular and cycling in general – that the whole procedure be brought to a final and definitive conclusion in the shortest time possible. Tinkoff-Saxo congratulates Roman and his defence team on this well-deserved result.”
The biological passport system is used to detect the use of prohibited drugs and blood doping by tracking a rider’s blood and urine values over an extended period. Any anomalies in the data can often indicate the presence of performance enhancing drugs.
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