Toon Aerts banned for two years for anti-doping rule violation

Belgian cyclocross specialist Toon Aerts has been suspended from competition for two years following a positive anti-doping test for the testosterone-boosting drug letrozole.

The Baloise Trek Lions rider had mounted a defence which sought to prove that the substance was ingested involuntarily and as a result of a contaminated food supplement.

“We found a contaminated supplement but in an opened container. To be legally binding, we also need to find a contaminated supplement in a closed container. And unfortunately, we have not succeeded to date. So officially, the source of the contamination has not been found,” Aerts’ manager Yannick Prevost had previously explained. 

Aerts had already seen a potential four-year ban shortened to two, allegedly because the UCI recognised the ingestion of the substance was involuntary; however, to reduce his ban even further or avoid a suspension altogether, Aerts and his lawyers were proving the letrozole contamination - a task described as “like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

On Friday 18th August the UCI published its decision, explaining that Aerts would be banned for two years from the date of his initial provisional suspension - the 16th February 2022.

“The Tribunal found Toon Aerts guilty of an anti-doping rule violation (presence of letrozole metabolite in a sample collected out-of-competition on 19 January 2022) and imposed a two-year period of ineligibility, starting from 16 February 2022 (the date on which he accepted a provisional suspension),” a UCI statement read.

“After a thorough examination of the case, including several expert reports submitted by the Belgian rider, the Tribunal considered that Toon Aerts had failed to establish how the prohibited substance entered his body and imposed the standard sanction under the UCI Anti-Doping Rules (ADR) and the World Anti-Doping Code for the presence of letrozole.”

The ruling also means that race results following the date of the test, but preceding the provisional suspension, will be cancelled – this includes a sixth place at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Arkansas, a victory in X2O Badkamers Trofee - Krawatencross in Lille on February 6, and a third place in the Gavere Superprestige.

While Aerts initial defence has failed he has one month to appeal the ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The UCI has stated it will not comment further on the matter.