Iban Mayo Suspended Two Years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the appeal filed by the International Cycling Union (UCI) in a case involving the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) and the Spanish cyclist Iban Mayo. Accordingly, the CAS disqualified Iban Mayo from the Tour de France 2007 and imposed a two-year ban as from 31 July 2007.

The UCI had challenged the decision of the RFEC to terminate the disciplinary case of Iban Mayo at the end of the last year and had submitted the case to the CAS.

Iban Mayo had undergone an anti-doping control on 24 July 2007, during the Tour de France. The A-sample analysis, performed by the Anti-doping laboratory of Châtenay-Malabry (LNDD), revealed the presence of recombinant EPO. Due to the annual closing of the LNDD, the B-sample analysis had been conducted by the Laboratory in Ghent (Belgium). This laboratory requested the opinion of another laboratory in Sydney, which had itself indicated that the result of the B-sample analysis was “inconclusive”. The UCI had then decided that the B-sample analysis should be performed by the LNDD but the athlete had objected to such decision. On 6 December 2007, the LNDD confirmed the presence of recombinant EPO in the B-sample. The RFEC had finally concluded that the B-sample was not positive and had decided to terminate the procedure.

The CAS Panel was of the opinion that the decision of the UCI to proceed to a new analysis of the B-sample was in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the UCI Anti-Doping Regulations and of the international standard for laboratories. Furthermore, the Panel stated that the two analyses performed by the LNDD had brought the clear evidence of the presence of recombinant EPO in the urine of Iban Mayo.

The cyclist is suspended for a period of two years from 31 July 2007, namely, on the day when he was suspended by his team (Saunier Duval) and deprived of his salary.

The full award is published on the CAS website www.tas-cas.org.