The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced today, that the winner of this year’s Gran Fondo New York, Oscar Tovar, failed an in-competition anti-doping test, which has resulted in the Colombian rider being stripped of his title, along with a two-year ban.
The test revealed, that the 32-year old Tovar, had synthetic testosterone in his system at the time of the race.
As result, Tovar was also handed a life-time ban by Gran Fondo New York, from any and all of their future events.
“We are of course upset and hurt that a doper taints the reputation of our race and had us celebrate him on the day,” said GFNY CEO Uli Fluhme. “However, it’s without a doubt more important for us to do what we can to make our race fair, of which doping controls are an integral part. Simply looking away and not testing the athletes is the worst decision that a race director can make because it forces everyone to take drugs to try to level the playing field.”
Tovar was one of several riders, who was randomly tested as part of the pre-race anti-doping controls.
Another Colombian also tested positive for the steroids at the GFNY, Yamile Lugo, who finished third-place overall in the women’s field.
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