Amateur racer given four-year ban after testing positive for EPO and testosterone

An amateur bike racer has been handed a four-year ban after he tested positive for a cocktail of performance enhancing drugs, including EPO and testosterone.

Michel Carrillo, from Miami in Florida, was caught by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) testers while competing at the Vuelta a Miami in July 2018.

The 42-year-old gave an in-competition sample that returned positives for five banned substances.

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The CEO of USADA, Travis T. Tygart, said: “All athletes deserve a level playing field so that hard work and talent alone determine the outcome at every level competition.

“USA Cycling’s RaceClean initiative and others like it help ensure that athletes know how to compete clean and that those who choose to use powerful performance-enhancing substances to gain an advantage are held accountable.”

Carrillo was tested because of his USA Cycling membership, as part of the governing body’s RaceClean programme.

RaceClean is an attempt to fight doping by increasing testing and education.

Carrillo, a category three racer, was tested on July 29 last year during the Vuelta a Miami, where he finished 11th.

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His sample returned positives for recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO), androgenic-anabolic steroids, 19-norandrosterone, clostebol metabolite 4-chloro-4-androstan-3a-ol-17-one and testosterone metabolites.

These substances are banned under all circumstances by USADA, the United States Olympic Committee, the UCI, and WADA.

Anabolic agents and blood-boosting substances like EPO have powerful performance-enhancing capabilities and give athletes an unfair advantage.

Carrillo’s four-year ban started on September 5 and he has been disqualified from any results obtained on or after July 29, last year, including the forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes.

According to the Road Results website, Carrillo raced 11 times in 2018 – his best position was second place in the Rosewood Series Master’s race in February.

The previous year he won the Okeechobee Krome Okeechobee Classic cat four/five race.