Australian cyclist Robert Stannard has received a four-year suspension for doping, backdated to 2018, due to irregularities in his biological passport.
The former rider for Alpecin-Deceuninck was provisionally suspended by the UCI, cycling’s global governing body, in 2024 and subsequently excluded from Australia’s road race team for the world championships in Glasgow. Stannard denied any wrongdoing when his provisional suspension was announced.
The UCI’s Anti-Doping Tribunal determined that Stannard had violated anti-doping rules by using a “prohibited substance or a prohibited method.”
Backdated suspension
In a statement from the international cycling body, the suspension was also announced to be backdated.
“In accordance with the applicable rules, i.e. the World Anti-Doping Code and the UCI Anti-Doping Rules, the Tribunal decided that the period of suspension shall start on August 17 2018, i.e. the day of the appearance of the first abnormality, taking into account the delay with which the rider’s abnormalities were communicated to the UCI,” it read.
That time at Het Nieuwsblad when Ian Stannard beat three Quick Step riders
Stannard, who took a victory at the 2022 Belgian Tour de Wallonie, is currently without a team following the end of his contract with Alpecin-Deceuninck last year. He is now eligible to compete again immediately. The 25-year-old was also fined 70 per cent of his salary from 2018 and 2019.
A biological passport is an electronic record that compiles the results of all doping tests conducted over time.
Stannard vigorously denied any doping
“I have been notified by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) that it considers that I committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation more than four years ago,” Stannard’s said in a statement back in 2023. “And I have never intentionally or knowingly used a prohibited substance and will therefore ask for my case to be referred to the UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal. I look forward to filing my defence and am confident of being exonerated and continuing my career. I will respect the confidentiality of the procedure and therefore will not be commenting further.”
The decision is not yet final and can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) by the rider, his National Federation, the National Anti-Doping Agency, the UCI, and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) within one month. Once the decision is final, it will be published on the UCI website.
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