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Jonas Vingegaard has revealed that he has a missed anti-doping take a look at on his file, saying that it is “positively one thing I take into consideration afterwards to verify it would not occur once more.”
The double Tour de France winner spoke extensively about biking’s historical past, anti-doping, and testing in an interview with Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet. He stated that “it is a disgrace” that the game is affected by the quite a few doping scandals of the previous, whereas additionally acknowledging Jumbo-Visma teammate Michel Hessmann’s ongoing case.
Talking about his missed take a look at, which he says occurred in 2019, Vingegaard spoke in regards to the circumstances that led to it, whereas noting that he has been examined round 60-70 occasions in the course of the 2023 season.
“I had left my cell phone within the kitchen, after which our doorbell did not work. They tried to name me, and it was clear that it was not possible to reply,” he informed Ekstra Bladet. “In fact, it is not cool. However then they got here two days later.
“You get examined there, however in fact, it is not nice to have a missed take a look at hanging over you. It is positively one thing I take into consideration afterwards to verify it would not occur once more.
“I do not suppose it is that troublesome,” he added, referring to complying with the Whereabouts system the place riders have to offer day by day timeslots to be out there for testing. “You at all times have to recollect it. It is a problem, however once I’m simply at dwelling, it is not so troublesome.”
Vingegaard stated that the elevated quantity of testing in fashionable biking is “an excellent factor”. Nevertheless, he famous that riders claiming they at all times take a look at unfavorable “rings hole”, on condition that the identical claims had been made within the EPO-fuelled years of the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s.
“It is a good factor to be examined on a regular basis. It helps in a method. All of your assessments are unfavorable, however in a method, it rings hole as a result of 20 years in the past they had been examined too,” he stated.
“By some means riders can nonetheless cheat, so I do not wish to simply say – as they did within the previous days – that I’m the rider who’s examined probably the most. I do not take a look at constructive. They did one thing again then, and other people will certainly imagine that riders will do it once more.”
Vingegaard additionally spoke about Michel Hessmann, the German rider who’s dealing with a ban of as much as 4 years from the game after testing constructive for a diuretic in an out-of-competition take a look at again in June.
“I do not know the way it received into his physique,” he stated. “However I feel each bike owner’s greatest worry is that you simply get it by means of some meals or one thing you eat, and that method take a look at constructive with out your intention has been dishonest, however you continue to get it into your physique.”
Hessmann faces a protracted spell away from racing after his B-sample got here again constructive earlier this month. If he can show that he examined constructive on account of a contaminated complement or meals, then a possible four-year ban may very well be diminished to 2 years.
His crew has pledged to “look within the mirror ourselves – are we doing every little thing proper?” within the wake of the case.
The 22-year-old’s case is one in every of strikingly few positives that emerge on the high stage of biking these days. The UCI’s provisional suspensions and sanctions lists are full of lesser-known riders from the decrease rungs of the game in Asia, South America, and Portugal testing constructive for EPO and steroids.
Biking at WorldTour stage, then, seems to be cleaner than ever with fewer doping busts and constructive assessments scandalising the very elite of the game.
“I feel it’s a disgrace that we’re affected by what occurred 20-30 years in the past,” Vingegaard stated.
“I do not wish to disguise it, however as a result of it has occurred, I nonetheless suppose it is vital to speak in regards to the previous. As a result of if you happen to simply sweep it underneath the carpet, then it is clear that folks would possibly nonetheless not care if everybody cheats.
“Should you discuss it, there’s a greater probability that you simply will not cheat, I feel. Possibly it is a approach to stop it from taking place sooner or later.
“I do not take something, and I do not suppose that the remainder of the peloton does both. Since I can win the Tour de France twice with out taking something, I additionally imagine that everybody else would not take something both.”
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