Richie Rude announces return to racing after anti-doping violation

Richie Rude announced today he will return to racing, following an eight month suspension for an anti-doping violation in 2018.

The American enduro racer will appear at the Enduro World Series for the first time in 2019 when the series resumes in Canazei, Italy on June 29. It will be the first time Rude has raced since September 2018.

History of Rude’s AAF and AFLD’s decision

News of Rude’s anti-doping violation wasn’t made public until November 2018. Doping control carried out following the EWS’s 2018 stop in Montagnes du Caroux, France, resulted in Adverse Analytical Findings (AAF) for Rude as well as fellow American Jared Graves. Both athletes tested showed the presence of Higenamine and Oxilofrinie in their samples. Both declined to have their B Sample tested. The samples were collected by the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD).

RELATED: Two Enduro World Series riders test positive at French race

Both Rude and Graves argued that the presence of the two prohibited substances was unintentional. The AFLD seems to have agreed with Rude, who argued that the trace levels of contamination were due to sharing a water bottle with another athlete near the end of the second day of racing in Montagnes du Caroux. Which athlete provided Rude with the bottle was not disclosed.

Rude’s announcement states that because he voluntarily stopped racing when the AAF was announced:

“My decision to refrain from racing until a ruling had been made by the AFLD allowed the suspension to be retroactively served starting October 26, 2018 and ending June 26, 2019.”

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Good News Alert~ Thank you to everyone who has had my back for the last 8 months, family, friends, and sponsors. I would not be here today if it weren’t for you guys! You guys might be wondering, why am I thanking everyone? Well… I am super pumped to announce that I will be back racing in Italy for the next stop on the EWS calendar. Before I get back to racing I would like to fill everyone in on what has been going on in my world. Firstly, I would never do anything to harm this sport or jeopardize the result of another athlete or myself by cheating. Everyone works way too hard and a lot of sacrifices are made, I respect all my fellow competitors and love my fans and support system too much for that. So, in case some of you weren’t up to speed… Last year I had a doping infraction while racing in France. This whole thing was a shock to me. All in all it was accidental ingestion of the substance. I had run out of water and used someone else’s bottle as we climbed up to the start of another stage. Due to it being accidental and the French anti-doping authorities also seeing it in this light, my suspension was back dated to when I stopped racing last season, and now I am free continue the sport that I love. Im thankfully to be moving on from this. I hope this brings awareness and stands as a learning experience to others. Again, I want to say thank you to everyone who has stood by me and I look forward to seeing everyone at the races again soon! Scroll left for more -> @yeticycles @redbull @smithoptics @rynopower

A post shared by Richie Rude (@richie_rude1) on Jun 22, 2019 at 8:16am PDT

Both Rude and Graves avoided receiving provisional suspensions after returning their AAF’s, meaning both were free to compete for the remainder of the 2018 EWS season. This was likely because the two substances are on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) Specified Substance list. Higenamine under the class of Beta2 Agonist and Oxilofrine as a stimulant and amphetamine.

WADA distinguishes between “Specified” and “Non-Specified” substances on the Prohibited List. The purpose of the sub-classification is “to recognize that it is possible for a substance to enter an athlete’s body inadvertently, and therefore allow a tribunal more flexibility when making a sanctioning decision.” Under WADA rules, athlete’s are ultimately still “responsible for all substances that enter their body.” For more details on how this distinction impacted Rude’s case, see our initial announcement of the AAF from November.

How does this change 2018 EWS results?

The decision from the AFLD appears to mean there will be little impact on Rude’s 2018 results, outside of the specific event where the positive test was returned. While Rude’s result from Montagnes du Caroux will be vacated, his announcement said that his wins at Zona Zero Ainsa-Sobrarbe, Spain, and Finale Ligure, Italy later in 2018 will remain intact.

Rude won the Montagnes du Caroux EWS round. With his results being wiped, Adrien Dailly (Lapierre Racing) will move up from second to retroactively take the win in France. Dailly won two stages to finish 5.79 seconds behind Rude after 50:29 of racing. If Rude’s results are vacated, Dailly will also move from second to first on the third stage of racing at Montagnes du Caroux.

The Enduro World Series has not yet commented on the decision. Rude is listed on the start list for Les Orres, though. EWS’s listed results on its website have not yet been changed to reflect the decision.

Since the incident occurred before the EWS entered into a partnership with the larger cycling body, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the UCI’s anti-doping rules do not apply to Rude or Graves violation. At the time the AAF became public, the EWS announced it would wait for AFLD’s ruling before making any decision on the athlete’s future in the EWS.

Rude’s 2018 results

Rude hasn’t raced since EWS Finale Ligure, Italy in September, 2018. The American won the EWS Final’s in Finale ahead of France’s Damien Oton (Unior Devinci Factory Racing).

Aside from his result from Montagnes du Caroux, which will be vacated, Rude won a number of other international and continental level races in 2018. The full list of Rude’s wins includes:

EWS Finals, Finale Ligure, Spain (EWS #8) (September)
Zona Zero Ainsa-Sobrarbe, Spain (EWS #7) (September)
North American Continental Enduro Series in Burke, Vermont (September)
California Enduro Series, North Star, Cali (Aug)
Big Mountain Enduro in Snowmass Village, Colo.  (Aug)
Scott Enduro Cup in Powderhorn, Colo (July)
Big Mountain Enduro in Keystone, Colo. (July)
Windrock Bike Park – Tennessee Enduro (EWS Qualifier) – Windrock, Tenn. (June)
Big Mountain Enduro in Santa Fe, N.M. (May)

Richie Rude in Squamish, B.C.

Rude has been training in Squamish, B.C. recently. While he isn’t racing, the American did preview Stage 1 of this weekend’s Squamish Enduro, an EWS Qualifier event. The stage starts on the notoriously steep and gnarly Rigs in Zen trail, before traversing to Sweet Jane. All in, it takes Rude a full eight minutes to preview the stage.

With a fleet of local pros on hand, Squamish Enduro has an all-star cast for the race’s course preview videos. If you can’t be in Squamish to race this weekend, watch Jesse Melamed preview 19th Hole – Hybrid – Lowdown, Miranda Miller’s entertaining run down Somewhere Over There, and Kasper Woolley on Rampage / Equinox / My Trail. Rhys Verner tackles the short course, previewing Leave of Absence and Crouching Squirrel, Hidden Monkey.