André Cardoso has been handed a four-year ban EPO, more than 16 months after testing positive for the banned blood-booster. The Portuguese rider, then under contract with Trek-Segafredo, returned the positive test in an out-of-competition control on June 18, 2017, 12 days before the start of the 2017 Tour de France. After requesting analysis of his B-sample, the case dragged on, with little light shed on proceedings. On Wednesday, the UCI issued a statement announcing that they had reached a decision and that Cardoso would be banned for four years.ADVERTISEMENT "The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announces that the UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal has rendered its decision in the case involving André Cardoso," read the statement. "The Anti-Doping Tribunal found the rider guilty of an anti-doping rule violation (use of Erythropoietin) and imposed 4-year period of ineligibility on the rider." As well as being suspended by Trek-Segafredo, Cardoso was provisionally suspended by the UCI when the positive test was announced on June 27 of last year. As with similar cases in the past, the period of ineligibility already served is likely to be taken into account, meaning his four-year ban would be backdated to start from that date and thus run to July 2021.
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