Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Team Katusha (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Eduard Vorganov has had his provisional ban for a positive Meldonium test in January lifted by the UCI allowing the Katusha rider to return to racing. Vorganov successfully requested for his provisional ban to be lifted with the UCI Disciplinary Commission.
"Under the UCI ADR a provisional suspension can be lifted where the Rider establishes the assertion of the Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) has no reasonable prospect of being upheld, or that there is a strong arguable case that he bears "No fault or Negligence" for the ADRV asserted, or some other facts or circumstances exist that, in the UCI Disciplinary Commission's opinion, make it clearly unfair to impose or maintain the Provisional Suspension," read a statement from the UCI.
Last month, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced it would offer limited amnesty for meldonium positives in consideration of the high number of athletes who returned adverse analytic results since the heart drug was added to the prohibited substances list on January 1.
Vorganov is the only cyclist to test positive for meldonium although several Russian athletes, including multiple grand slam winner Maria Sharapova, across various sports were found to have the drug in their system.
In April, WADA announced that bans could be lifted for athletes who tested positive with concentrations of meldonium in their urine between 1 and 15 ug/ml from samples taken between January 1 and February 29. The level of meldonium in Vorganov's sample has not been disclosed and the UCI explained it "will not comment any further... until the adjudication of the case"
"After analysing the case, the Disciplinary Commission decided to lift the provisional suspension against Mr. Vorganov," read the statement from the UCI.
