UCI Anti-Doping tribunal announces decision in Toon Aerts case
Cross rider’s status has been in limbo since 2022
On Friday, the UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal issued a statement regarding the matter involving Toon Aerts. The Tribunal has determined that Toon Aerts is in violation of an anti-doping rule due to the presence of letrozole metabolite in a sample taken out-of-competition on 19 January 2022. As a result,, a two-year period of ineligibility has been imposed, commencing from 16 February 2022, which marks the date he agreed to a provisional suspension.
“After a thorough examination of the case, including several expert reports submitted by the Belgian rider, the Tribunal considered that Toon Aerts had failed to establish how the prohibited substance entered his body and imposed the standard sanction under the UCI Anti-Doping Rules (ADR) and the World Anti-Doping Code for the presence of letrozole,” the statement read.
X2O Trofee champion Toon Aerts tests positive for banned substance
Furthermore, Toon Aerts’ race results from January 19, 2022 until February 5,2022 have been cancelled.
According to the UCI, Aerts can appeal the decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within one month. Despite the suspension being backdated, it still means the Belgian will miss the majority of the 2023-2024 season.
In the lead-up to the world cyclocross championships in February 2022, the UCI announced that Toon Aerts had received a positive result for the prohibited substance Letrozole in a urine sample Following this announcement, Toon Aerts refrained from participating in any races, with subsequent testing of his secondary urine sample also confirming the presence of the banned substance.
His legal team initially said that his positive test result might be attributed to contamination; however, they have been unable to prove this.
