Franck Bonnamour, the French rider competing with Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, has been provisionally suspended over alleged irregularities with his biological passport, the UCI has said.
The 28-year-old, the most aggressive rider at the 2021 Tour de France, has already been in action for his team this year at the Tour Down Under but will now not be able to compete pending the outcome of his case.
"The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) informs that French rider Franck Bonnamour has been provisionally suspended in accordance with the UCI Anti-Doping Rules due to unexplained abnormalities in his biological passport," the UCI said in a statement on Monday.
The world governing body added it "will not comment further while the proceedings are ongoing".
The UCI did not provide any details about Bonnamour's case, including for what period he is alleged to have shown irregularities in his data.
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However, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team issued a statement saying the alleged irregularities pre-dated Bonnamour's arrival into the team.
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"The Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team takes note of the UCI's decision to provisionally suspend Franck Bonnamour," the team said.
"This decision is based on checks carried out before his arrival in the team on January 1st, 2023. In this context and as long as the UCI procedure is ongoing, the team is suspending Franck Bonnamour as a precautionary measure with immediate effect.
"The Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team advocates the practice of cycling in line with strong ethical rules."
The UCI added the athlete biological passport "is an individual electronic record for each rider, in which the results of all doping tests collected as part of the ABP programme over a given period are collated".
It said the International Testing Agency (ITA) - an "independent entity in charge of the UCI anti-doping operational activities on behalf of the UCI" - manages the passport programme in collaboration with the athlete passport management unit of Lausanne, Switzerland.
Athlete biological cases were "prosecuted based on the opinion of an independent expert panel of the athlete passport management unit.
