News that Lizzie Armitstead had been provisionally suspended from racing only emerged last night in a story about her winning an appeal against the ban. The Court of Arbitration for Sport has cleared her of missing one of three dope tests UK Anti Doping said she missed, which would have counted as a doping violation. But she is now cleared and free to represent Great Britain at the Rio Olympics.
One of pro cycling’s most prolific female riders, Lizzie Armitstead has won an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport over efforts to ban her from competing after claims she had missed three dope tests in a 12-month period.
News that she had been suspended last month only emerged last night when the Daily Mail broke the story of the successful appeal against efforts to ban her.
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Missing three tests within 12 months is a serious violation that can result in a ban from racing of up to four years.
However, Armitstead – who is engaged to Irish Team Sky rider Philip Deignan - has successfully made the case that the first test it was claimed she missed was an administrative error on the part of the anti doping official who tried to locate her on the day.
It was alleged she had three whereabouts failures. Under anti doping rules athletes must keep the anti doping authorities informed about where they are for the purposes of surprise testing.
UK Anti Doping alleged Armitstead committed three whereabouts failures; on August 20th last year, October 5th last year and on June 9th this year.
Armitstead has insisted she is a clean rider and has been outspoken against drug taking.
Armitstead is engaged to Irish rider Philip Deignan, the climbing specialist from Donegal now in his third season with Team Sky.
And while she has accepted she missed the test last October and the latest one in June, her legal representatives took issue with how the first claimed failure was recorded against her.
She was in Sweden for the UCI World Cup at the time, last August. And when an anti doping official came to locate her at the team hotel it appears they were refused her room number.
The official rang her mobile phone but it was on silent as she was sleeping at 6am and so the incident was registered as a missed test.
CAS agreed that efforts to find her were inadequate and that the official had not followed procedures.
And so with that alleged failure expunged from her record, the two missed tests that still stand do not constitute a doping offence. It means her provisional suspension, imposed on July 11th, has been lifted.
She said the second test was missed due to “an administrative oversight” on her part and that the latest one, on June 9th of this year, was missed because of “an emergency change of plans due to a serious illness within her family”.
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Her appeal to CAS against UK Anti Doping was heard on July 21st and was funded by British Cycling.
She now has no case to answer and is free to compete at the Olympic Games in Rio; as the World Champion and having won silver in the road race in London 2012.
Her representatives issued a statement on her behalf which vehemently denied any wrong doing.
“The (CAS) ruling relates to a UKAD anti-doping test which was asserted to have been attempted on Thursday, August 20, 2015, whilst Armitstead was staying at the team hotel, during the UCI Women's Road World Cup in Sweden,” the statement said of the first whereabouts incident that has now been expunged from her record.
“CAS ruled that the UKAD doping control officer had not followed required procedures nor made reasonable attempts to locate Armitstead.
“CAS also ruled that there was no negligence on Armitstead's part and that she had followed procedures according to the guidelines.
“Armitstead undertook in-competition testing the following day, as leader of the UCI Women's Road World Cup.
“The independent panel of leading legal experts from CAS promptly and unanimously cleared Armitstead of the asserted missed test.”
Also in the statement, Armitstead was herself quoted protesting her innocence and reiterating anti doping views.
“I have always been and will always be a clean athlete and have been vocal in my anti-doping stance throughout my career,” she said.
“I am pleased that CAS has accepted my position, having provided detailed information demonstrating the situation around my strikes.
“This issue was one of administration and was the result of UKAD not following proper procedure nor fully attempting to make contact with me despite clear details being provided under ‘whereabouts’.
“I was tested in competition the day after this test, reinforcing my position that I do not cheat and had no intention of not being tested.
“I think that there should be clearer guidelines for those administrating tests and would like to work with UKAD going forward to explore how this can be better addressed in the future so no other athlete is put in this position.
“Meanwhile, I hope that UKAD can now return to the important job of making sure all athletes are clean and that Rio is the clean Olympics that we all want.
“I understand how important it is to be vigilant in my role as a professional athlete and realise the potential implications this could have had.
“I would like to thank British Cycling and the team around me for all of their help and support.
“I am very much looking forward to putting this situation behind me and firmly focusing on Rio again after what has been an extremely difficult time for myself and my family.”
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