Israel Start-Up Nation rider handed doping ban for using wrong asthma spray 

Israel Start-Up Nation has been handed its first doping ban since becoming a WorldTour outfit. 

Swiss rider Patrick Shelling has been banned by the UCI after he took the wrong asthma spray and tested positive for a prohibited substance.

The 30-year-old has been given a four-month ban after he tested positive for terbutaline, which is used to manage symptoms in asthma sufferers. 

Schelling has apologised after his ban was made public on Tuesday (September 8), adding it was an unintentional mistake to take the banned substance.

Israel Start-Up Nation have not ended the rider’s contract, but said the matter will be dealt with internally.  

He said: “I have suffered from asthma since childhood. It was an unintentional mistake to use a non-allowed asthma spray, and I would like to apologise to the authorities, to the team, and to the whole cycling family. 

“It has never been my intention to damage the image of cycling, I regret my wrongdoing and I take full responsibility for my error in judgment.” 

Schelling, who hasn’t race since March, has had all his results from the 2020 Tour of Rwanda stripped, including his overall podium finish. 

The UCI said the ride returned an adverse analytical finding for terbutaline in a sample collected on February 24, 2020, on stage two of the Tour of Rwanda.  

His ban has been backdated to May 2020, which means he will be eligible to race again from September 17. 

Terbulatine is banned under the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited substance list, which has been adopted by the UCI.  

The presence of the substance does not result in automatic suspension of a racer, which is why the results have not publicly disclosed until now. 

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 A statement from Israel Start-Up Nation said: “We are disappointed that our rider Patrick Schelling had an Adverse Analytical Finding for an asthma medicine at the Tour of Rwanda of this year, that then resulted in four months of ineligibility. 

“ISN was not aware that Mr Schelling was taking this substance, as it was not declared to the team. 

“We accept the sanction by the UCI, which was imposed in accordance with the Anti-Doping Rules. ISN will deal with this internally to ensure that such violations are not repeated.”