French pro handed four-year ban after UCI rules on Biological Passport case

French rider Franck Bonnamour has been suspended from competition until 2028 after the UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal ruled he committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) linked to his Athlete Biological Passport.

In a statement released on Thursday, the UCI confirmed: “The Tribunal found that Franck Bonnamour had committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) for use of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method due to an unexplained abnormality in his Athlete Biological Passport in 2022.”

As a consequence, Bonnamour has been given a four-year period of ineligibility, with the ban running from 5 February 2024 to 4 February 2028.

The case was built not on a positive test, but on abnormalities detected in Bonnamour’s Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) — an electronic record of longitudinal blood and biological data designed to flag possible doping practices.

The UCI press release explained: “The Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) is an individual electronic record for each rider, in which the results of all doping tests collected as part of the ABP programme over a given period are collated.”

Management of the programme is overseen by the International Testing Agency (ITA), in collaboration with the Athlete Passport Management Unit (APMU) of Lausanne. According to the UCI, “Athlete Biological Passport cases are prosecuted based on the opinion of an independent Expert Panel of the APMU.”

As with all Tribunal rulings, the decision may yet be challenged. The UCI confirmed that “the decision may be appealed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within one month.”

Until then, Bonnamour will remain suspended, and the ruling will be formally published on the UCI’s website. The governing body added that “the UCI will not comment further on the matter.”

The verdict underscores the UCI’s determination to act even in the absence of a direct positive test, reinforcing the significance of the Biological Passport in catching long-term doping practices. For Bonnamour, however, once viewed as a symbol of French cycling’s new wave of attacking riders, this ruling could well be career-defining.