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CyclingThe CAS rejects Nairo Quintana’s appeal
The Arbitral Tribunal of Sport considered the presence of tramadol in the blood of the 32-year-old mountaineer sufficient to justify the sanction imposed by the UCI on 17 August.
Nairo Quintana remains disqualified from the last Tour de France, which finished in sixth place.
AFP
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Thursday dismissed Colombian Nairo Quintana’s appeal against his disqualification during the last Tour de France, due to the use of a painkiller prohibited by medical regulation.
The sports court found, according to its statement, that the presence of tramadol in the blood of the 32-year-old mountaineer, who finished sixth at the Grande Boucle, was sufficient to justify the sanction imposed by the International Cycling Union (UCI) on 17 August. All the more so since the UCI repressed “for medical reasons and not for doping reasons”, therefore within “its power and its disciplinary competence”, continues the TAS, kidnapped at the beginning of September by the Colombian.
The cycling authority had disqualified the rider, also condemning him to a fine of 5,000 Swiss francs, after the analysis of two dried blood samples provided on 8 July (seventh stage) and 13 July (eleventh stage), revealing the presence of this product at the heart of scientific and ethical debates in the world of sport.
Addiction and loss of attention
Tramadol, a synthetic opiate, has long been “under surveillance” by the World Anti-Doping Agency without appearing on its banned list, which prohibited sports federations from including it in their anti-doping regulations. On September 23, WADA finally decided to ban it from all competitions from 2024, highlighting studies showing its effects on physical performance, as well as the significant risks of addiction.
But the UCI, noting the particularly widespread use of this product in cycling – among the urine samples positive for tramadol taken in 35 Olympic sports, 68% concerned this discipline in 2017 – had banned it at the beginning of 2019 through his medical regulation. The world cycling body has invoked two risks, “progressive addiction” and above all drowsiness and loss of attention, “which increase the risk of falling into the race” in already nervous groups.
Thursday, in a statement, the UCI “welcomed the decision of the CAS”, believing that “it has strengthened the validity of the ban on tramadol to protect the health and safety of runners”.
Package at the Vuelta
The day after his disqualification, Nairo Quintana announced that he would not participate in the Tour of Spain, explaining that he did not have “the head or the body for the competition”.
During the 2020 Tour de France, a search was carried out at the Arkéa-Samsic hotel, while the race made a stop near Méribel, as part of an investigation opened by the public health department of the Marseille prosecutor’s office, on suspicion of doping . No charges have yet been advanced in this case.
(AFP)
