The UCI has introduced that Astana growth workforce rider Ilkhan Dostiyev has been handed a four-year racing ban after testing constructive for the blood booster CERA.
22-year-old Dostiyev moved to the WorldTour groups Continental-level squad final yr from Kazakhstani squad Vino SKO. He’d go on to complete second on the Tour du Rwanda and the Giro della Valle d’Aosta earlier than successful the two.2-ranked Turul Romaniei stage race in August.
However, the information broke in mid-September that Dostiyev had examined constructive for Methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta – CERA, offered below the commerce title Mircera by Roche Pharmaceuticals – an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent much like EPO.
The UCI introduced that “intelligence-led” focused testing of Dostiyev was carried out. He’d take a look at constructive for CERA in an out-of-competition take a look at on July 30, 9 days after the Giro della Valle d’Aosta, the place he additionally took a mountain stage victory and gained the factors classification.
Another constructive take a look at adopted on the Turul Romaniei, the place he topped the rostrum forward of teammate Davide Toneatti. The take a look at was carried out on August 17, the penultimate day of the five-stage race.
Dostiyev, who completed his season in August after racing the Tour de Hainan as a part of Astana’s WorldTour squad, was fired by the workforce final September. His ban dates from September 9, 2024 and can run to September 8, 2028, the UCI said.
“The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) declares that Kazakh rider Ilkhan Dostiyev has been sanctioned with a interval of ineligibility of 4 years following an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) for the presence of Methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta (CERA)1 in two samples collected – because of intelligence-led testing – out-of-competition on 30 July 2024 and in-competition on 17 August 2024 throughout the Turul Romaniei (Tour of Romania),” the UCI introduced.
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“In accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code (the Code) and the UCI Anti-Doping Rules (UCI ADR), the interval of ineligibility began on 9 September 2024 and can stay in drive till 8 September 2028.
“The case has been resolved by means of an acceptance of penalties as offered for by the Code and the UCI ADR. The UCI won’t remark any additional.”
CERA is a drug within the household of erythropoiesis-stimulating brokers which stimulates new crimson blood cell progress. Its main use is available in medical settings to deal with anaemia attributable to kidney illness, chemotherapy, HIV/AIDS, or main surgical procedure.
Thanks to its capability to spice up crimson blood cell progress, and with it oxygen-carrying capability, CERA emerged in skilled biking shortly across the similar time it was accredited for medical use by the European Medical Agency in July 2007.
However, in distinction to the years-long watch for a dependable EPO take a look at, a take a look at for CERA had been developed swiftly and quietly.
As a consequence, quite a few high names – Saunier Duval riders Riccardo Riccò and Leonardo Piepoli, and Gerolsteiner riders Stefan Schumacher, Bernhard Kohl, and Davide Rebellin, Ceramica Panaria rider Emanuele Sella, and LPR Brakes rider Danilo Di Luca – have been all caught utilizing the drug in 2008 and 2009.
Thanks to the event of a dependable take a look at, utilization of the drug seemingly would not hit the heights of the Nineteen Nineties EPO period, although Dostiyev joins a small record of riders on the UCI sanctions record to have been banned for utilizing CERA in recent times.
Other riders at present sanctioned for CERA positives embody Colombian Luis Alberto Largo (who examined constructive in 2017), Costa Rican Cesar Rojas (2017), Argentine Juan Pablo Dotti (2021), and Czech racer Daniel Vysočan (2024).