UCI unfairly kept him from competing for six months
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Iljo Keisse has been at the centre of controversy all winter. (Image credit: ispaphoto.com)
Iljo Keisse (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) at the front of the five-man break which at one point held an 8-minute lead before being caught with 25km to go.(Image credit: AFP)
Copenhagen Six Day winners Iljo Keisse and Marc Hester, along with Hester's daughter.(Image credit: fietsenphotography.com)
A Belgian court has ordered the UCI to pay Iljo Keisse 100,000 euros for unjustly prohibiting him from racing. It is only the latest step in a long and complicated legal case for Keisse, now with Omega Pharma-Quick Step.
Keisse tested positive at the Six Days of Gent in November 2008, and the Belgian federation banned him for two years. The federation lifted that ban at the end of 2009 and he resumed racing. The UCI appealed that decision, and the CAS overturned it, confirming that Keisse was to sit out his entire ban. He was allowed to ride in all areas other than Belgium as of August 2011, but was only allowed to ride in Belgium again as of January 27, 2012.
The Belgian court has now ruled that the UCI unfairly prohibited Keisse from riding from December 2010 through May 2011. He will also be allowed to retain the second place finish in the Rotterdam Six Day race from January 2011.
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