The doping control van is hard to miss. (Image credit: www.ispaphoto.com)
Austrian track rider Daniel Baldauf has been suspended for two years after testing positive for testosterone at the national championships in September. Baldauf denied having doped but said that he would accept the ban.
Baldauf, 24, tested positive on September 21 in Vienna at the national championships, where he won one gold medal and two silvers. The B sample recently returned a positive result.
He is banned for two years, until September 2012, and will lose the medals.
“It was confirmed to me that it was only slightly over the limit, which reflects that it came from a contaminated food supplement,” he told the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung. “But unfortunately I can no longer prove that.”
He is determined to return to the track when his ban expires. “I have a training licence for the track and will continue to train. I will also stay in the NADA testing pool that way. I have nothing to hide.”
The suspension puts an end to his club, the Styrian Sprint Cycling Union, which didn't even exist for one full year. “Unfortunately we have to take this step. Once you have been confronted with the theme of doping, it is difficult to keep the club financially alive,” said sport director Ernst Köppel.
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