WorldTour team Bahrain Victorious appear to have removed comments pertaining to their new signing Robert Stannard, after the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) issued a statement rebutting the team and rider’s claims about the Australian’s recent anti-doping case.
Stannard, 25, was announced as a Bahrain Victorious rider on Tuesday, joining the squad with immediate effect after the conclusion of a drawn-out anti-doping case, which both the rider and team appeared to deny the ruling of in a release confirming the news.
Stannard had been provisionally suspended by the UCI on 2 August 2023 for abnormalities in his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) from 2018 and 2019. On 4 June of this year, the UCI delivered their ruling on the case, and handed Stannard a backdated four-year ban, starting from the date of the first abnormal sample in August 2018, meaning his results in that period have all been cancelled but his ban has now been served.
His most recent team, Alpecin-Deceuninck, parted ways with the rider at the end of 2023, but he has been picked up by Bahrain Victorious for the rest of 2024 and 2025. In announcing the news, the Bahrain squad made comments about his case, suggesting they did not agree with the UCI’s ruling.
"We are happy to have Robert joining us. Robert went through a difficult period, with a lot of confusion, but we support him, and through our medical teams' analysis we could not conclude any wrongdoing," Vladimir Miholjevič, Bahrain Victorious' performance manager, said in a press release issued by the team on Tuesday.
Stannard himself also commented in the release, expressing his happiness at being able to race again after making the “choice” to accept the ruling rather than “fight to clear [his] name”, and arguing against the decision taken by the UCI.
"They alleged that it could only have been caused by 'illegal means', but throughout the entire process, provided no evidence of any wrongdoing. No evidence of doping is collected or required for them to reach this judgment,” he said.
However, the team have since deleted that part of the press release from their website, and on Friday the UCI responded to reiterate their findings and “correct” the “misleading” statement.
“The UCI is surprised by the content of the statement - even though this has since been removed from the team’s website - and wishes to clarify a few points,” their release said.
The governing body went on to confirm that the decision handed down in June was final, and that Stannard failed to provide explanations for the abnormalities in his ABP.
“Robert Stannard had the opportunity to provide supporting written explanations and expert evidence, both in writing and during a hearing. The Tribunal rejected the rider’s explanations and held that he used a prohibited substance and/or method as evidenced by his Biological Passport. In accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code and the UCI Anti-Doping Rules (UCI ADR), a four-year period of suspension was imposed. However, the start of the period of ineligibility was anticipated by the Tribunal in view of delays in the proceedings not attributable to the rider or the UCI,” the statement said.
It then went on to explicitly damn the comments made by the team earlier this week.
“In line with the above, the allegations made by Bahrain Victorious, such as ‘it has never been specified whether the rider is accused of using a prohibited substance or a prohibited method’ and ‘through our medical teams’ analysis we could not conclude any wrongdoing’ are clearly incorrect and misleading.
“It is unfortunate that the UCI is put in a situation to correct statements by a UCI WorldTeam related to a matter as important as the fight against doping.”
The release from Bahrain Victorious that is currently available on their website is now just two sentences long, with no reference to Stannard’s case at all, and no quotes from the rider.
“Team Bahrain Victorious are pleased to announce the addition of Australian climber & classics specialist Robert Stannard to the roster with immediate effect. The 25-year-old has signed until the end of next season,” it reads.
Apart from removing the initial comments, there does not seem to be any other consequence for Bahrain Victorious, with the UCI saying that they would not comment further on the case.
Stannard is yet to make his return to racing, but is slated to appear at the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain, starting next Monday.
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