Two positive drug tests at Gran Fondo level - one by the winner - add weight to the theory drug use is growing in the amateur ranks.
The winner of this year’s Gran Fondo New York has been stripped of his victory after testing positive for synthetic testosterone.
The results were returned during an in-competition sample taken from Colombian Oscar Tovar, who won the event in May.
And the organisers have also announced the rider who came home in 3rd place in the women’s event has tested positive for drugs.
A statement from Gran Fondo New York said Yamile Lugo, also from Colombia, tested positive for values “consistent with the administration of a steroid of exogenous origin”.
It added of Lugo’s results: “Those values certainly could have been caused by the athlete’s use of testosterone, but it could have also been caused by her use of another anabolic agent such as DHEA.”
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The positive results, though by no means the first on the Gran Fondo scene, follow warnings in the recent report by the Independent Commission for Reform in Cycling that drug taking in the amateur ranks was rampant.
“Doping in amateur cycling is becoming endemic,” it concluded. “This was confirmed by riders, professionals, managers and anti-doping personnel.
“Masters races were said to have middle-aged businessmen winning on EPO, with some of them training as hard as professional riders and putting in comparable performances.”
Of Gran Fondos – which are essentially competitive sportives that some riders race to win; it noted some professional riders told the ICRC “they no longer ride in Gran Fondos… because they were so competitive due to the number of riders doping”.
Gran Fondo New York chief executive Uli Fluhme said the results of the positive tests had only emerged now, more than five months after the event, because the riders had contested the findings.
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Tovar has been banned from any competition under World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) rules for two years and by Gran Fondo New York, and any of its other events, for life.
“We are of course upset and hurt that a doper taints the reputation of our race and had us celebrate him on the day”, said Fluhme.
“However, it’s without a doubt more important for us to do what we can to make our race fair, of which doping controls are an integral part.
“Simply looking away and not testing the athletes is the worst decision that a race director can make because it forces everyone to take drugs to try to level the playing field.”
Gran Fondo New York established doping controls in 2012 and is the first event open to amateurs that also institutes out of competition tests.
In 2012, David Anthony from New York City and Gabriele Guarini from Prato, Italy, tested positive for EPO after winning their respective age groups.
All samples in 2013 and 2014 were negative.
Gran Fondo New York also randomly checked bikes for motors at this year’s event.
It said current technology allowed the invisible integration of inaudible motors into the frame that produce up to 250 Watts for 30 minutes, increasing a top rider’s output by more than 50 per cent.
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