"Incorrect and misleading" - UCI issues statement and sends warning to Bahrain - Victorious after signing of Robert Stannard following doping positive

Bahrain - Victorious do not have, safe to say, the best of reputations in the peloton. They have a history of signing riders after some sort of negative situation developed before and that was the case with Robert Stannard, who committed a doping violation in 2018 and 2019. Bahrain - Victorious have signed the Australian rider this week but has lied in the press release regarding the case, and the UCI has now stepped in in the face of this unusual situation.

The statement issued in June of this year, by the UCI, was clear: "The Tribunal found that Robert Stannard committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) of use of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method due to unexplained abnormalities in his Biological Passport in 2018 and 2019". There seems to be no grey area or room for misunderstanding. The then-rider for Mitchelton-Scott rider was fined for a large part of his salary in those two years and given a backdated suspension that would end in 2022. Because it came so late, the suspension effectively did not truly prevent him from racing, but it did mean Alpecin-Deceuninck decided not to keep the rider in it's ranks, and Stannard could not get a contract into 2024.

Until this week.. Bahrain - Victorious announced the signing of the 25-year old with immediate effect. Although not the best of looks for the team, it is fully legal. However in their press release they said the following: "It has never been specified whether the rider is accused of using a prohibited substance or a prohibited method". This is untrue; although the specific substance (or act) was not publicly mentioned detailed, the sanction was official and proven by the sport's governing body. There was lots of criticism over the Bahraini team upon the signing and their wording, which led the team to actually delete it's initial statements.

But the words did not elude the UCI, which has decided to promptly respond to the team's "incorrect and misleading" statements regarding the signing of Stannard. They have explained the case once again and outright refused the arguments provided by the team in it's official statement.

"It is unfortunate that the UCI is put in a situation to correct statements by a UCI WorldTeam related to a matter as important as the fight against doping". This is how the UCI has, quite formally, corrected and dismissed the words issued by Bahrain - Victorious in the press release where they announced the signing of Australian rider Robert Stannard.