Jesse Ewart, the Australian-born rider who declared for Ireland a number of years ago, has been added to the UCI's list of provisionally suspended riders following an alleged adverse doping test result.
Ewart has been riding for a Malaysian Continental squad, Terengganu Cycling Team, for the last couple of seasons has already taken two wins in UCI-ranked races this year. Stickybottle has today reached out to him for comment.
He won the opening stage of Tour of Sharjah (2.2) in the United Arab Emirates back in January and followed up with a stage victory at Tour of Thailand (2.1) just over two weeks ago.
According to the notice now published on the UCI's website, the sample that has shown up the alleged adverse result - for, the UCI claims, EPO - was collected from Ewart on January 26th. That date coincides with his win in UAE, which was his first race of the 2024 season.
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Though the potential doping violation involves EPO, Ewart has not been found guilty of a doping offence at this point. Instead, he has been added to the UCI's list of provisionally suspended riders as a process is now underway involving him.
He can put up a defence and can also request that his B sample be tested, meaning the process is still underway, hence the provisional suspension, rather than any final verdict being reached or sanction handed down at this point.
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Ewart has continued to race in recent weeks, with his most recent event being the Tour de Kumano (2.2) in Japan. It concluded eight days ago, when Ewart finished 50th overall and took a best result of 38th on the third stage of three. However, he will now not be able to continue racing as he is provisionally suspended.
Ewart has ridden at Continental level for the last nine years and has won eight UCI-ranked races through his career to date, including the overall, twice, at Tour de Singkarak (2.2) in Indonesia. He has ridden the Irish road race championships twice, finishing 6th in 2022 and 9th last year.
The UCI says its published table of license-holders provisionally suspended includes those riders provisionally suspended "as a consequence of a potential or asserted anti-doping rule violation, over which the UCI has results management authority".
"Provisional suspensions imposed by other anti-doping organisations are not included in this list, but are automatically recognised and binding in accordance with the UCI Anti-Doping Rules," it adds in an explanatory note accompanying its table.
"The UCI confirms that the individuals listed below cannot participate in any competition or activity until the adjudication of his/her case on the merits or the lifting of the provisional suspension by the UCI Disciplinary Commission or the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
"The UCI wishes to emphasise that the decisions in this table are not necessarily final and there may be appeal rights for the license-holder and/or other parties in certain cases."
At the time of writing, Ewart had not made any comment on social media about his name being included on the UCI list and while stickybottle sought comment from him, a reply was awaited.
