Alfred sanctioned for life

Stephen Alfred received a lifetime period of ineligibility according to the United States Anti-Doping Agency. USA Cycling will carry out the sanction which went into effect Monday.

According to USADA's website www.usantidoping.org, it was Alfred's third offense when the 40 year-old refused to participate in an out of competition test on November 26, 2007. UCI and USADA rules consider non-compliance with out of competition testing "without compelling justification" as a violation of anti-doping rules.

At the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Alfred tested positive for norandrosterone. He also tested positive for exogenous testosterone or its precursors and for an elevated testosterone to epitestosterone (T/E) ratio in an out-of-competition test conducted on May 28, 2006. Most recently, he tested positive for hCG on June 10 at the Pan American Cycling Championships in Brazil. The latter two offenses were counted as one by the World Anti-Doping Code.