Convicted doper Robert Stannard registered as Bahrain - Victorious rider on the UCI website

Robert Stannard is preparing for his return to competition. The website of the international cycling union UCI indicates that the 25-year-old, who has just served a doping suspension, is registered with Bahrain - Victorious.

The reality is that Stannard's case has been plagued by bizarre situations that certainly do little to help the fight against doping. The UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal found that the Australian committed an anti-doping rule violation, but could not identify whether a prohibited substance or a prohibited method was used.

What was detected and accompanied his subsequent punishment were certain unexplained anomalies in his biological passport between 2018 and 2019. To put an additional twist on events, Stannard was retroactively suspended by the UCI in June, from 17 August 2018 to 17 August 2022. His team at the time Alpecin-Deceuninck immediately terminated the contract with the 25-year-old all-rounder.

Now, a year after his retroactive ban expired, Stannard is listed as registered for Bahrain - Victorious. The official communication from team is currently missing, but he should be eligible for start in any race from now on. We will see if the Australian rider returns to compete in the World Tour in next seasons.