Spanish cyclist Samuel Sanchez has been handed a backdated two-year doping ban for an anti-doping rule violation committed on 9 August 2017.
The 2008 Olympic Gold road race champion has been on a provisional suspension since he returned the positive result for the growth hormone GHRP-2 in an out of competition test in 2017.
Following a near two-year investigation, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) confirmed that the review revealed the likelihood of the origin of the ADRV was a contaminated supplement that Mr Sanchez had been using.
The UCI stated ‘While the UCI would have preferred the case to be resolved sooner, establishing the source of the ADRV required multiple scientific analyses, as well as follow-up investigations, to make sure the correct conclusions were reached.’
As a result, Sanchez was sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of two years which will be backdated from the start of his provisional suspension. He can return to cycling on 16 August 2019.
