Another Canadian cyclist waiting to confess to doping?

Following  Adrienne Arsenault’s report last week on CBC’s The National, in which the journalist said the names of other Canadian riders are in USADA’s Reasoned Decision, La Presse reported Thursday that there is a third Canadian cyclist in the document. Both Michael Barry, who’s name was released in October 2012 when the document came out, and Ryder Hesjedal are known to have co-operated with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation into Lance Armstrong.

“USADA’s documents on the Lance Armstrong case have given us a lot of information,” said Paul Melia, the president of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, told Gabriel Béland of La Presse. “We learned about Michael Barry, for example. But there are other Canadian athletes named in the investigation.” The CCES later clarified that Hesjedal was one of the previously unnamed athletes.

Whether this third cyclist is still active or is planning to come clean about his or her cheating is unknown. Melia was unable to give more details. In many cases, anti-doping agencies signed confidentiality agreements with riders to encourage them to speak about past transgressions. Barry’s past was revealed after he had retired from cycling and the USADA report came out. Barry was given a six-month suspension that only covered about a month of his active racing career and continued into his retirement. His results from May 13, 2003 to July 31, 2006 were disqualified.

Last week, Hesjedal said, “More than a decade ago, I chose the wrong path.” Hesjedal’s confession followed claims by Danish rider Michael Rasmussen in Danish media that the former Rabobank member had shown Canadian mountain bikers Seamus McGrath, Chris Sheppard and Hesjedal how to use EPO. Hesjedal’s confession followed a few hours later. His team, Garmin-Sharp, revealed that the Canadian cyclist had been co-operating with Canadian and U.S. anti-doping agencies. Because Hesjedal doped more than eight years ago, his actions fall outside the eight-year statute of limitations set within the World Anti-Doping Code.