Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny) returns to racing this Wednesday in the Alpes-Isère Tour but the young Belgian climber says he has still not been clearly informed as to how a nasal spray - which he'd reported he used during an anti-doping test this February - could end up with him being briefly placed on non-active status.
"I am happy to be able to race again, but also still indignant about how my process went," Van Eetvelt told Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws on Wednesday.
On April 22, Van Eetvelt was briefly placed on non-active racing status after the AFLD, the French anti-doping authority, queried his use of the spray during the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var this February, in which the 21-year-old neo-pro had finished 18th.
However, he was rapidly acquitted of any potential wrongdoing and is now back in racing.
Van Eetvelt told Het Laatste Nieuws he remained uncertain as to why the spray, which he had clearly notified the authorities he was using, was ever the subject of full investigation.
"The French doping authority AFLD asked questions about a substance found in my body. There are four categories: substances that are not allowed, substances that are permitted, substances that are only allowed in certain products, and substances that are always allowed. The substance that was in my body belongs to the third category," Van Eetvelt said.
He told the paper he had notified the authorities during the anti-doping procedure that he used a nasal spray, as is permitted - while taking it in pill-form or via an injection is banned - to take the substance, which remains unnamed.
He also said the amount found was "minimal", and therefore could not have been anything other than a spray.
"I've been taking that nasal spray for a long time. It helps against allergies and since childhood I have high allergy values," he said. "I still don't understand what the problem was. But I worry it could happen in the future, so I won't be using that nasal spray again."
Last year, Van Eetvelt won the Course de la Paix and finished runner-up at the U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Giro d'Italia. Prior to the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var, he'd raced three days of the Challenge Mallorca, taking second and third, the Vuelta a Murcia, and the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior.
Van Eetvelt received the full support of his team during the whole process, who said in a press release when the case broke that placing Van Eetvelt on non-active status was a measure taken in compliance with the guidelines of the Mouvement Pour Un Cyclisme Crédible association, which the team joined in November 2012.
After taking part in the five-day Alpes-Isère event this week, Van Eetvelt is due to go on to race in the Tour de Suisse later this year.
"I got a lot of support, but I didn't check social media and headed to Tenerife to escape the fuss and do altitude training while it was happening," he told Het Laatste Nieuws. "Although I haven't been able to race for a month, my level must be good and I’m hoping to perform well in the Alpes-Isère Tour."
