With the CAS' final verdict going his way, Mark French now has to decide whether to return to cycling after an 18 month legal and media ordeal.
"I've been up and down more than a yo-yo," French told the ABC. "I'm just [grateful] my family's stuck by me - I've been a lot more down than up. Everyone's pulled me through it, my solicitors, everyone - family, friends, good friends. Without everyone I wouldn't be here but now I can look at tomorrow. Everything's looking better."
From the outset, French maintained he had not used the contents of the empty equine growth hormone vials found in his room at the AIS facility in Adelaide. But despite having been finally cleared, he is still angry about the events of the last 18 months. "I am because I've lost everything I've wanted," he said.
French watched from the sidelines as other riders represented Australia. Being out of cycling, was hard, he says. "That was the worst time of my life and nothing will ever be able to give that back to me," he said. "I've lost 18 months of it, two world titles and an Olympic Games and I was at the top of my class - I was up there with the Ryan Bayleys and all the other boys.
"I've been cleared - everything's positive [but] I've still lost 18 months of my life."
