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Has everyone forgotten about Michael Rogers' "adverse analytical finding"?

Michael Rogers will miss both the Tour Down Under and Australian Championships. AFP PHOTO / JOEL SAGET
Expert
25th March, 2014
8
1856 Reads

It was some birthday present for Michael Rogers. On December 20, instead of celebrating his 34th birthday with family and friends, he was replying to a UCI statement that said he’d failed a drug test for Clenbuterol.

Since then though, what has happened?

Is it just me, or has everyone forgotten about this “adverse analytical finding”?

Why, on a test he failed following the Japan Cup Cycle Road Race on October 20 last year that was only announced by the UCI two months later, have we heard absolutely nothing since?

When the news broke, Rogers, who is still on Tinkoff-Saxo’s books, released this statement:

I would like to make it very clear, in the strongest terms possible, that I have never knowingly or deliberately ingested Clenbuterol.

I can advise that during the period eighth – 17th of October, before arriving in Japan, I was present in China for the World Tour race, Tour of Beijing. I understand that it has been acknowledged by the WADA as well as other anti-doping bodies, that food contaminated with Clenbuterol is a serious problem in China.

In the following weeks, I will have the opportunity to explain this unfortunate situation to the UCI, in which I will give my full attention and cooperation to resolve this issue in the quickest time frame possible.

But it is now nearly the end of March, and we are still none the wiser.

The UCI’s statement going back to last December read in part:

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The provisional suspension of Mr. Michael Rogers remains in force until a hearing panel convened by his national federation determines whether he has committed an anti-doping rule violation under Article 21 of the UCI Anti-Doping Rules.

Mr. Rogers has the right to request and attend the analysis of his B sample.

At the time, numerous media outlets reported there was confusion over exactly where Michael Rogers is registered, because his national federation is not the land of his birth; he doesn’t have an Australian riding license.

Rogers’ Wikipedia entry say he lives in Mendrisio, Switzerland but he has lived in Italy, so is his national federation Italy or Switzerland?

Is this why we haven’t heard anything? Do the wheels justice turn slowly in these countries, and a hearing hasn’t even been scheduled? Or is Rogers a lower priority because he is not a local?

I’d like to think Rogers has requested the analysis of his B-sample, but if he has, why has nothing been reported?

Yes, lots of questions but what are we meant to think?

Regardless of what you think of his presumed guilt or innocence, this delay in hearing Rogers’ case is hard to understand.

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Alberto Contador’s case took 18 months to decide but it never left the front pages, as his legal team vigorously contested the charges laid following a failed drugs test during the 2010 Tour de France.

The Spanish Cycling Federation got involved and cleared him to return to racing in February 2011. Then the UCI and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) took the case to the Court for Arbitration for Sport (CAS), arguing for a suspension. A decision was finally handed down in Feb 2012, which meant although Contador was banned for two years, taking into account his provisional suspension, he was free to race by early August 2012.

If found guilty of taking Clenbuterol, Rogers also faces a two-year ban, but if the same rules apply, any penalty will include the provisional suspension he is currently serving.

Rogers though is older than Contador, and even if his case is heard in the next few months, if found guilty he faces another 18 months in the sin bin. Getting a new contract at 35 may prove difficult.

If he is guilty, that’s what can happen. But what if he is not guilty? Is this delay fair?

I don’t understand the silence. Is anyone even guiding this case towards a hearing?

The most recent article I could find about this issue was from February, but it focused on WADA pushing ahead to develop a test for Clenbuterol. The only mention of Rogers’ case was in reference to him “talking with the Australian anti-doping authority”, but there was no mention of any date.

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No two cases are ever the same, but surely a failed drugs test can be sorted out and settled within a few months. This waiting around isn’t doing the rider or the sport any good.

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