The cyclocross peloton will journey to the Normandy area for the subsequent spherical of the World Cup in Flamanville, France, on Sunday, and riders have been given a warning by the administration of Toon Aerts and Shari Bossuyt.
Each riders examined constructive for the most cancers drug Letrozole after racing within the area. Aerts’ constructive got here after the Flamanville World Cup on January 16, 2022. His out-of-competition doping management three days later turned up constructive for the drug’s metabolites.
Bossuyt was racing on the Tour de Normandie Féminin on March 19, 2023, when she gave a doping management pattern that additionally turned up constructive for metabolites of the drug.
The 2 riders are each represented by Yannick Prévost of ISEA Sport Administration, who despatched a warning to different riders on their roster, together with Michael Vanthourenhout and Toon Vandebosch, in keeping with Sporza.
The letter suggested riders to not eat any native dairy merchandise and to convey their very own meals from Belgium.
Aerts and Bossuyt hypothesised that their positives happened as a result of dairy farmers could also be utilizing Letrozole to synchronise cows’ estrus for fertilization.
“We nonetheless base this on our speculation that Toon and Shari examined constructive after consuming dairy merchandise in Flamanville. Their recordsdata present too many similarities to neglect this.
“Letrozole Metabolite could also be current in cow’s milk. Our speculation is that their constructive take a look at is because of this, however this has not been confirmed by laboratory analyses,” the administration firm mentioned.
Letrozole is banned by WADA as a result of it may be used to reverse the feminizing results of anabolic steroids.
A 2019 research confirmed that hair evaluation can be utilized to tell apart between long-term use for doping and inadvertent ingestion.
Toon Aerts let his hair develop for such an evaluation however was unable to clear his title and was given a two-year ban, which expires simply earlier than the top of this season.
He’s reportedly near signing with the Deschacht-Hens-Maes staff, in keeping with Het Nieuwsblad.
Bossuyt continues to be pleading her case. She was to associate with Lotte Kopecky on Belgium’s staff for the Madison on the Olympics, however her participation is pending the end result.