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X2O Trofee champ Toon Aerts not actually suspended for Letrozole positive, UCI says

Belgian not racing voluntarily, growing hair in hopes it will support case

November 3, 2022
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Back in February, just before the World Cyclocross Championships, the UCI announced that Toon Aerts, who won the 2021-2022 X2O Badkamers Trofee after four years of being the runner-up, had tested positive for banned substance Letrozole in a January 19 urine sample. He hasn’t raced since, his B pee sample also testing positive.

But during Tuesday’s opening round of the 2022-2023 X2O series, there were pro-Aerts protest banners in the crowd, some of which, like “Allow Toon back in the field” and “UCI wake up” suggested that Aerts is suspended by cycling’s governing body. Here’s the thing: he’s not.

The UCI released a statement on Wednesday about the case.

In turns out that Aerts is not racing voluntarily. “Letrozole and its metabolites are qualified as Specified Substances on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List. In such cases, there is no mandatory provisional suspension required and Mr. Aerts was not provisionally suspended by the UCI. Any rider may, however, decide to accept a provisional suspension and refrain from participating in competitions on a voluntary basis,” the UCI said.

It seems that the 29-year-old Belgian is working on an explanation of the two Adverse Analytical Findings. Once Aerts presents his case the UCI will determine a sanction, if any. There’s no timeline of when this might happen.

One of the protest signs at Tuesday’s Koppenbergcross read, “Let Toon start so he can go to the hairdresser already”, in reference to Aerts not cutting his hair this year on the chance his locks can be used to support his case.