Home > News

Test comes back positive for testosterone for Tom Danielson

Tom Danielson
August 3, 2015
Share on SMS

On Sunday night, Tom Danielson got a call from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The Cannondale-Garmin rider reported on Twitter that he was dining with the team on the night before the Tour of Utah, when the call came in. He was informed that an out-of-competition test from July 9 came back positive for synthetic testosterone.

Slipstream Sports, the management company behind Cannondale-Garmin, issued a statement Monday confirming that Danielson had notified the organization about the result. “He has returned an adverse analytical A sample using carbon isotope testing,” the release read. “In accordance with Slipstream Sports’ zero-tolerance anti-doping policy, he has been suspended from competition, effective immediately. He awaits the results his B sample. Slipstream respects and will adhere to the process of the anti-doping authorities and will not comment further.”

Confessed doper Jonathan Vaughters started Slipstream Sports in the early 2000s. The outfit has always had a zero-tolerance policy for doping; however, it welcomed past offenders as long as they were upfront about what they did. With riders such as David Millar, Christian Vande Velde, David Zabriskie and Ryder Hesjedal landing on the team, Vaughters’ project was a bit like rehab for dopers. In 2012, Danielson, along with Vande Velde, Zabriskie and others, was revealed to have provided testimony in USADA’s investigation against Lance Armstrong. For his testimony and confession to doping while on Discovery Channel, Danielson received a six-month suspension.

Danielson followed his Twitter announcement with a claim that he was innocent of knowingly taking a banned substance. Danielson was scheduled to start in the Tour of Utah and defend his win overall in that race last year.

Categories: News |