British rider Elizabeth Banks wins battle to clear her name against UK anti-doping agency but retires as a consequence

Former EF Education-TIBCO-SVB rider Elizabeth Banks has opened up about her battle to clear her name after returning an adverse analytical finding in a UK Anti-Doping test last July. As a result, Banks has spent much of the past year attempting to clear her name, with UKAD insisting on handing her a two-year ban, she wrote in an entry on her personal website.

"This process has cost me a huge amount, literally and metaphorically. My husband and I spent every penny of our savings and the huge mental toll has left deep scars," Banks wrote.

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"But somehow, through it all, I knew I had to fight. Right from the start, I learnt of other athletes in the similar situations with a contamination of chlortalidone, whose lives and careers were also being torn apart."

An interview with Banks published by The Telegraph on Tuesday states that Banks and her husband estimated that they have spent over £40,000 fighting the cases, adding that she's now ending her career as a result of the ordeal.

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In the interview, Banks says that she "couldn't risk putting her family through something like this ever again" should she return to racing. Her retirement is official as of today.

"WADA have known there was something up here for years, and yet they've not done anything about it," she said.

"How does WADA compensate athletes that have been wrongly accused of cheating? How do they give them back those two years of life? Repay them for all the lost earnings and legal fees? Repair their shattered mental health? The short answer is, they don't."

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