Cyclo-cross rider Aerts faces two-year suspension: 'The evidence is in my hair'

29 dec 2022 om 11:47Update: een uur geleden

The international cycling association UCI wants to suspend Toon Aerts for two years, the cyclist announced in an emotional press conference on Thursday. The Belgian was caught last February with the metabolite of the banned substance letrozole, but maintains his innocence.

Aerts could not hold back tears as he shared the proposed suspension with the press in Merksplas, Belgium. “We have to send a message to the world that we don’t want to send at all,” the 29-year-old Belgian began his story.

“I wanted to make my first cross here a few weeks ago, but unfortunately I received a letter that nobody wants to receive. The UCI is proposing a two-year suspension, which means I can no longer compete this season.”

Last February, Aerts’ world was – as he himself put it – “turned upside down”. The metabolite of letrozole, a drug used in the post-treatment of cancer patients, was found in the urine of the 2017 European sample. Inhibits the degradation of testosterone and anabolic steroids. Aerts denied ups and downs.

Pending re-evaluation, Aerts was suspended from his Baloise Trek Lions team. In September, however, the collaboration was terminated “in good consultation”, because the UCI did not respond.

Toon Aerts een jaar geleden in actie in Gieten.

Foto: ANP

Aerts has not gone to the hairdresser since the positive test

The UCI has now sent a letter with the proposed suspension. “It was hell to tell my parents and my girlfriend and my brother and everybody,” sobbed Aerts on Thursday. “That’s too severe a punishment for someone who can look in the mirror.”

Aerts did not go to the hairdresser from the positive test and spoke to the press from under lush hair. “It’s not fun to walk around in this haircut, but my hair contains information we can use to prove my innocence,” he said. “That’s why I’m not cutting it for now.”

The Belgian appeals against the proposal. If the suspension remains in effect, it may not come back into action until February 16, 2024.

The cyclocross season is in full swing without Aerts. On Wednesday evening, Wout van Aert, Tom Pidcock and Mathieu van der Poel put on a show in Diegem, with the former crossing the line as winner. The Azencross in Loenhout is scheduled for Friday.