Jonathan Tiernan-Locke’s “alcoholic binge” defence rejected

Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, formerly of Sky Pro Cycling, claimed an “alcoholic binge” was behind his irregular blood samples. But the UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) didn’t buy the British rider’s claim and upheld his two-year ban from the sport.

“The explanation provided by the rider … did not sufficiently explain the abnormal values obtained from the sample,” UKAD said in a statement. The samples were taken in September 2012 and raised flags among authorities when compared with Tiernan-Locke’s biological passport. At the time, Tiernan-Locke had signed with Team Sky for two years. He celebrated, The Guardian reports, by drinking most of a bottle of wine that he shared with his girlfriend, before having gin and vodka. He claimed he was suffering from severe dehydration just before the road world championships soon after.

“It is inconceivable that a professional rider, selected for the first time to ride for his country at a senior level in the world championships, would not have ensured that by the time he arrived in the team hotel at Maastricht, [Netherlands] he was fit to race and had ensured that he had taken on sufficient water to deal with any hangover which he was still experiencing,” the statement said.

The samples and their results caught up with Tiernan-Locke just before the 2013 world championships in Tuscany, Italy. He was withdrawn from that competition. On July 17 of this year, Tiernan-Locke received a two-year ban from the UCI. It will run until Dec. 31, 2015. The same day the UCI issued its ban, Sky ended the 29-year-old’s contract.