Toon Aerts has delivered a statement on social media following his suspension from competition for two years by the UCI following a positive anti-doping test for the testosterone-boosting drug letrozole, with the Belgian cyclo-cross powerhouse adamant that he will return and prove that he is not a doper.
Aerts was initially provisionally suspended on February 16 2022, and was trying to prove that banned substance letrozole detected in his anti-doping test was from a contaminated food supplement. However, the UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal handed down its decision last week, delivering a two-year ban as “the Tribunal considered that Toon Aerts had failed to establish how the prohibited substance entered his body”.
“Here we are. After a year and a half in a legal tug-of-war, now portrayed as a cheater,” said Aerts in a statement released on social media. “Along with my entire family and surrounds suddenly labelled losers. It hurts and it doesn't feel right.”
“Well here UCI, a big and heartfelt middle finger! You could have made us the happiest people on earth.... But who is Toon Aerts in the big circus of cycling?”
Aerts manager Yannick Prevost explained last year that proving the contamination was like “looking for a needle in a haystack” as while they had found a contaminated supplement it was in an opened container and what they needed for it to be legally binding was one in a closed container.
“I am now closing this rotten period here in front of me and together with my family and entourage I am trying to quietly find some peace and joy in life again,” said Aerts.
Aerts is not alone in his situation, with Canyon-SRAM rider Shari Bossuyt also having being notified of a positive test for Letrozole from the Tour de Normandie in France on March 19 and now awaits a final verdict from the French Agence française de lutte contre le dopage (AFLD), who carried out the test.
”I only hope that my case rings a bell with everyone, because I am already holding my heart for riders and athletes who may go through exactly the same thing. My heart is already bleeding for Shari who is in the same situation.”
The UCI decision suspending Aerts can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within a month, but that appears unlikely with the rider – who was rarely off the cyclo-cross podium before his suspension – now looking ahead to a return when the early in 2024 when the two-year suspension comes to an end.
“And what comes next from 16 February 2024? We will see, but I will definitely be back,” said Aerts. “After 4 hours of cycling at 290W power, I rode up La Redoute on Thursday at 480W average. And that without Letrozole or any product in my body. I will prove it! Hopefully one day we will also receive the appropriate apology....”
