Doping: Sports court bans Spanish rider for two years

Spanish cyclist Iban Mayo was handed a two-year doping ban on Tuesday after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld an appeal by the International Cycling Union (UCI).

Spanish cyclist Iban Mayo was handed a two-year doping ban on Tuesday after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld an appeal by the International Cycling Union (UCI).

The UCI took its appeal to CAS after the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) refused to punish the rider due to what it called the ‘inconclusive’ nature of a B sample.

Mayo tested positive for EPO in an A test conducted during last year’s Tour de France, but challenged its legitimacy after an initially inconclusive B sample test was returned by a laboratory other than the one which carried out the initial test.

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The UCI then instructed the original laboratory to do its own B-test and called for the rider to be banned after that came back positive.

“The CAS Panel was of the opinion that the decision of the UCI to proceed to a new analysis of the B-sample was in accordance with the letter and spirit of the UCI Anti-Doping Regulations,” the court said in a statement.

Mayo would be suspended from the sport for two years from July 31, 2007, the day on which he was sacked by his then team Saunier Duval, it added.