Robert Stannard he was disqualified for 4 years for anomalies in his biological passport. Stannard, a 25 year old Australian rider, was a rider for Alpecin until 2023, after 6 years in GreenEdge (Mitchelton-Scott, Bike-Exchange), his only career victory came in 2022, at the Tour de Wallonie, a victory which represents a unique anomaly.
Why anomaly? Because Stannard was disqualified, as the UCI explains, for: “Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) for the use of a prohibited substance or prohibited method due to unexplained anomalies in his biological passport in 2018 and 2019. As a result, the Tribunal imposed a four-year period of suspension on the cyclist years and a financial fine corresponding to 70% of his average annual salary in 2018 and 2019“.
The 4-year disqualification starts from 17 August 2018, the day of the first appearance of the anomalies in his biological passport (and also taking into account the delay with which the rider’s anomalies were communicated to the UCI), therefore the disqualification, announced today, is already served, the disqualification period having ended on 16 August 2022. Stannard’s only career victory came on 07/27/2022, when the rider was disqualified, but it was not known… but not only that, Stannard has regularly raced throughout his period of disqualification, he basically went from continental level to WorldTour during the disqualification, racing for 4 years and collecting numerous placings and earning 1172 UCI points in total.
In the UCI press release there is no mention of whether these results will be expunged, it seems not. The only additional sanction to the disqualification is the financial penalty corresponding to 70% of the average of his salary in the years 2018-2019.
Now Stannard, who is not registered for any team in 2024, and was provisionally suspended only a few days before the 2023 Glasgow World Cup (where he had been called up by the Australian national team) obviously has the right to appeal, but this is certainly a situation bizarre, also because during the period of suspension it was never communicated when the infringement would be committed:
