Tom Danielson: 'I hope to educate others on the dangers of supplement use'

Tom Danielson claims to have pinpointed the contaminated supplement that caused him to provide a positive doping sample at the Tour of Utah in 2015 and says he is conducting further research into it himself.

The American, who rode for Cannondale-Garmin at the time, is yet to have his case resolved and remains provisionally suspended after Carbon Isotope Ratio testing flagged an anabolic agent.

The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) revealed this week that Danielson's case - provisionally set to be heard in June - was postponed until the autumn, with the rider releasing a statement asking for more time to research the supplement that he believes to have triggered the positive test.

"Before I present the evidence and facts of my case to USADA, I am asking for additional time to conduct further investigation into this supplement, as there are still some questions that need to be answered," the statement read.

"The biggest question: Did this company intentionally put the banned substance in the supplement to make it work better, or was it simply contamination? Right now there is evidence that points to both possibilities.

"While I am taking full responsibility for this supplement going into my body, finding the full answer is important to me. I want others to be able to learn from this mishap to avoid it happening to them in the future. WADA rules very are clear, I was responsible for what went into my body, no matter what."

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Danielson says the positive test was consistent with supplement contamination and is classified as 'unintentional ingestion. He says the analysis of his result showed that the substance was early in the metabolism process, which he says is from a supplement he took with his dinner to aid absorption and digestion.

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He has not conducted his own research into the supplement to determine whether the banned substance was added intentionally to make it work better or whether his particular supplement had been contaminated.

I wish now I had done this much research into my supplements before taking them, not just because of this test result, and the damage it’s done to my career and my reputation, but also because of the potential damage I may have done to my body by ingesting this substance," he added.

"With the additional information I hope to obtain over the next months, I hope to be able to share with others, to accurately educate them on the dangers of supplement use.”

Danielson maintains that he did not intentionally take the banned substance and is "firmly against any and all doping in sport", having previously been banned after admitting doping during his time with the Discovery team between 2005 and 2007.