National team rider Rourke Croeser was found to be in possession of a syringe at the recent World MTB Championships in Andorra. This is in direct contravention of the UCI Medical rules and specifically in relation to the sub-section “Ban on Injections”. The possession of syringes is in violation of UCI Medical rule 13.03.058 (2). The rule states:
13.3.058 In addition to the sanctions stipulated in article 13.3.057 the following shall apply:
1. In case of infringement of article 13.3.055 all results obtained by the rider in the 48 hours period shall be disqualified.
2. In case a violation of article 13.3.052 occurs at a race the licence holder(s) concerned and, where appropriate, the whole team of the licence holder(s) at fault may be excluded from the race; in this respect the possession of objects used or fit for an injection shall be presumed to constitute evidence of a violation of article 13.3.052 having been committed except if the objects are in the possession of the medical doctor who has made the report referred to in article 13.3.052.5 and are covered by such report and except for those objects that may reasonably be in a medical doctor’s possession. The exclusion may be decided by the president of the commissaires’ panel after having given the persons concerned the opportunity to be heard or by the president of the UCI Disciplinary Commission upon report by the president of the commissaires’ panel.
Mr. Croeser voluntarily withdrew from the Championships. The matter is now being dealt with by Cycling South Africa according to the prescribed UCI rules.
William Newman, President of Cycling SA, re-iterated that the National Federation will continue to strive to ensure that riders are aware of the UCI medical rules. Cycling SA will not tolerate any activities by athletes that may be an infringement of UCI medical or anti-doping regulations.
Interesting. Wonder what it was used for? An impromptu brake bleed, perhaps.