USADA clears two mountain bikers of "no show" doping violations

USA Cycling and the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced that two athletes previously sanctioned for anti-doping violations have been cleared by USADA. Their eligibility to compete was reinstated effective immediately after a joint investigation by USA Cycling and USADA's Legal and Doping Control departments.

Cale Redpath and Alice Pennington had accepted one-year suspensions each for failure to appear for a doping test. Both were selected as reserve athletes during competitions in 2006; however, neither would have been tested because both the automatic selections and the randoms were available for testing at the events where the violations occurred.

Cyclingnews previously reported that Redpath received a one-year ban from competition because he failed to present himself for testing following the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series race at Deer Valley, Utah. Penningon received the same sanction for failing to show up to the antidoping control at the NORBA Series Finals in Snowmass, Colorado.

In USADA's decision to set aside the offenses and sanctions of Redpath and Pennington, it cited a "fair and appropriate application of Article 122" (of the UCI Anti-Doping Rules) in light of USADA's investigation regarding reserve riders that are subject to a no-show violation only in the event they would have actually been tested.

USADA reviewed the cases in conjunction with USA Cycling. The organizations are aiming to better communicate anti-doping procedures to reduce the number of no shows for testing at events. USADA also worked with the UCI to determine a position regarding riders who are picked as reserves for testing.