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:
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.
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.
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.
trippytaka
Guest
I laughed when reading Juliet Macur's book on Lance Drugstrong when there was a passage about Matt White(an Aussie) saying something about HGH making his feet grow too big for his shoes. Michael Rogers ate some contaminated meat. Maybe you can now buy meat that has been pre-injected with clenbuterol-which, surprise surprise, is what Contador got banned for. Do you know what his excuse was? He ate contaminated meat. This circus is as so funny it actually makes me sad but also makes me start looking at lies in all areas of life-including my own. Why do humans lie so much? Why are we so deceitful? BEcause we have reasons to do so...
Simoc
Guest
Dunno about that. That is why samples are kept. So they can be tested in future.Your analogy comparing drivers on the road is ridiculous. Regular competition cheaters are nearly always suspected in advance due to an imbalance in hormone levels differing from the norm. Catching them is the hard part so when they know they will be done at some stage and tainted for life, the deterrence is greater. That still doesn't seem to stop the less educated riders.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
He is not guilty for two reasons: - He is Australian - He is a cyclist And I must be on drugs to post this comment :)
GD66
Guest
The silence is probably because all parties are hoping it'll just drift away... I agree with Mr Skellett. Not only is it naïve in the extreme to imagine a select few have come through the doping years as cleanskins and still managed to gain some success, but I find it irritating that by and large the press have recoiled in horror and outrage at all these doping revelations after blithely buying into the years of previous chapters of the Lance Armstrong story without query or wonder. (Not you JTM, your travails as a cycling scribe have always been realistic.) It is wrong to generalise and say "Nah, they're all on the gear, mate !", but not all that far wrong, so with the top end of UCI now being repaired, can't we draw a line in the sand, agree upon the tests required and move ahead ? There's really no tangible value in retrieving medals or discounting records set under dubious circumstances, and in fact the old "I never failed a test" mantra is true in that the relevant testing procedures were clearly inadequate. To go back retrospectively and re-test samples with more sophisticated procedures is ethically suspect : do you go back and charge all drink-drivers that got through with a reading of under .08 since the limit was lowered to .05 ? No, but that .05 will never go up, so we work around that. This victimisation of name riders from the past at the end of their careers does nobody any good, including the sport itself. They are already under suspicion for being high level competitors from the Bad Old Days. They should tiptoe away quietly, and let the sport continue to self-heal.
Eiger Enola
Guest
It's no secret that Mick Rogers is a doper. Even if he was, which I don't buy for a second, riding clean when he tested positive for clen... he still deserves to be caught!
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Maybe you guys should face the unpalatable truth , that ALL your heroes were or are doping -perhaps then everyone will move on huh ?
Jorji Costava
Guest
There used to be a saying on the cyclists that were not using substances. They were known to be "on bread and water only ...". You would only get the bread and water brigade as domestiques, never as lead men in teams. It is almost physically impossible. Makes you wonder about the blokes who refused to juice up if there is guys that missed out on careers in sports and are now doing other things in their lives that were robbed because others cheated them.
Andrew Graham
Roar Rookie
Was thinking much the same thing last week when I saw a tweet from Mick. Seems to be in limbo. Will be interesting to see what happens re the 'Clenbuterol in Chinese food' issue. No more chow mein for riders on the Tour of China?