Orica-GreenEdge rider on start list for Criterium du Dauphine, but participation is on hold
Orica's Simon Yates on the stage 6 podium. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) may be on the start list for the Criterium du Dauphine, but the British rider's participation is actually on hold and reliant on the UCI resolving his status after a positive test for Terbutaline. The eight-day stage race starts in Les Gets on Sunday with a 3.9 kilometre time trial. Yates had hoped to use the race as part of his preparation for the Tour de France.
Yates tested positive for Terbutaline on the final stage of Paris-Nice in March with the team doctor failing to apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). The team are not disputing how the substance – used to treat the British rider's asthma – entered his system, more that the positive test was the result of a clerical error.
News of the positive test was leaked in April and Yates, although not banned, has not raced since. The team are unwilling to comment, but with the rider on the start list for the Dauphine, which starts this coming Sunday, they are at least hopeful of clearing him in time for the race. Yates won the best young rider classification at the 2015 Dauphine, finishing in fifth place overall.
If the UCI has not ruled on a decision before Saturday then Yates may be moved to Orica-GreenEdge's Tour de Suisse roster.
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
