Doping hearing for Jonathan Tiernan-Locke by end of month

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According to UK Anti-Doping chief executive Andy Parkinson the case of Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, who was found to have anomalies in his biological passport, which charts an athlete’s blood and urine values to highlight any irregularities that could indicate the use of banned performance-enhancing substances or blood doping, will be heard before the end of the Month. Tiernan-Locke received a letter from the UCI which called into question his blood values dating back to September 2012 prior to signing with Team Sky. He has not ridden for the WorldTour team this year and is no longer listed on the Team Sky rider website.

The 29-year-old was dropped from Sky’s racing programme in September although he denies any wrong doing.

The announcement coincides with the statement from team Sky that their rider Sergio Henao has been removed from its racing programme due questions surrounding the rider's out-of-competition tests at altitude.

Parkinson, speaking at the Tackling Doping in Sport conference at Wembley on Wednesday is reported by The Telegraph said when asked: "Months, a month or so. Clearly the issue with that case is that it was in the public domain earlier than was ideal, and earlier than we put out a notice of charge.

"The process has seemed longer than it has been because we only received the notification after Christmas. Biological passport cases are difficult; difficult to run and you need a lot of expert witnesses. So we’re coordinating all that."

When contacted by Cyclingnews to ask about the status of the hearing last week, Tiernan-Locke's agent Andrew McQuaid replied via email: that it is a "confidential process and we will not be in a position to comment."