Nairo Quintana’s sixth place at the 2022 Tour de France–his best GC place in his last three editions–and all of his 109th Tour results will be scrubbed due to positive tests for the banned substance tramadol during the French Grand Tour, the UCI announced Wednesday. Arkea-Samsic’s Colombian is not suspended and is still slated to start the Vuelta a España on Friday in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The team loses around 400 UCI points from Quintana’s exploits in July.
According to a UCI statement, “the analyses of two dried blood samples provided by the rider on 8 and 13 July during the 2022 Tour de France revealed the presence of tramadol and its two main metabolites.”
However, the presence of tramadol during competition is an offense of the UCI’s Medical Rules and not considered to be an anti-doping infringement. As Quintana’s first offense, it doesn’t merit suspension.
Thirty-two-year-old Quintana won the 2014 Giro d’Italia and the 2016 Vuelta. He just re-signed with Arkea-Samsic for three more years on Tuesday.
L’histoire se poursuit. 👇https://t.co/e2M8dPzqMx pic.twitter.com/JEn9vWzBxg
— Team Arkéa Samsic (@Arkea_Samsic) August 16, 2022
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