Team Sky aiding Sergio Henao as Biological Passport date is reached

Team Sky has reiterated that they are helping Sergio Henao submit information as part of his Biological Passport case and that the deadline for the rider to make a submission to the relevant anti-doping bodies is today, Monday.

The Colombian was notified of a "potential anti-doping rule violation" by the Cycling Anti Doping Foundation (CADF), the anti-doping arm of the UCI, in April and given 20 days to respond to them with a request for more information. Team Sky broke the news of the correspondence between the governing body and the rider on April 20.

"We are currently working with Sergio to finalise the submission of his response to the UCI," a spokesperson for the team told Cyclingnews on Monday.

"He will not be part of our race programme whilst this process is ongoing, but we continue to fully support Sergio and look forward to his return to racing."

The team added that the deadline for Henao to submit information was today.

Henao was first withdrawn from racing in March 2014 and was subsequently placed on a Team Sky ‘altitude research programme’ of testing. At the time Team Sky contacted the CADF with their findings, which were based on a test done in October 2013 when Henao was back in Colombia. The test was part of the UCI's out-of-competition testing programme.

In June of 2014 he was cleared to race by his team after an internal investigation and urine and blood tests cleared him of any wrongdoing. He returned to racing at the Tour de Suisse.

At the time Team Sky stated that the results from the independent review had been handed to both the UCI and WADA. Last week the latter confirmed that they had received the relevant information.

"Yes, WADA received the information. We receive such information on a regular basis which is reviewed and used as part of our continual efforts to enhance the Athlete Biological Passport," a spokesperson for WADA told Cyclingnews.

"We understand that this is an ongoing case, and as is our standard policy we will not comment until a decision has been made by the responsible anti-doping organization. After a decision is taken, WADA will review the reasons for that decision and determine whether or not to use its independent right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)."