bicycle.net -- cycling news, product reviews, original essays, podcasts & video :: Tour of California 2009

By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer

The cyclist who sued the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency seeking to prevent the group from completing a drug test on him received a two-year doping ban Monday.

Kayle Leogrande filed suit against USADA in January seeking an injunction to prevent the agency from testing his backup urine sample after the original ‘A’ sample came back negative.

USADA scrapped plans to test the backup sample, and the lawsuit was later dismissed. But the agency continued with the doping case and wound up with a “nonanalytical positive”—proof of doping through witnesses, documentation and other evidence.

The three-person arbitration panel ruled unanimously in a 15-page decision that Leogrande had used the blood booster EPO. The 31-year-old cyclist’s two-year ban began Monday.

“It’s another case where athletes are coming forward and relying on us to take their evidence to help the playing field,” USADA chief executive officer Travis Tygart said.

The two key witnesses against Leogrande were Suzanne Sonye and Frankie Andreu. Both worked for Rock Racing, the team Leogrande raced for in 2007. Sonye was a soigneur—responsible for providing physical therapy, food and logistics for the cyclists—and Andreu, a former rider, was an administrator.

Leogrande’s samples were taken during the International Cycling Classic in July 2007, where Leogrande won three events, finished second at three more and finished second overall at the event, also known as Superweek.

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Bicycle.net Notes

The other day Rock Racing released their 2009 roster and Kayle Leogrande was not mentioned. He was completely left off the team riders list. You can only guess that the 2 year ban was not a complete surprise for the management of Rock Racing.

Here is the Rock Racing’s 2009 Roster:

Rahsaan Bahati, Chris Baldwin, Alex Boyd, Austin Carroll, Glen Chadwick, Baden Cooke, Michael Creed, Freddy Cruz, Ivan Dominguez, Danny Finneran, Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia, Cesar Grajales, José Enrique Gutiérrez, Tyler Hamilton, Sergio Hernandez, Sterling Magnell, Francisco Mancebo, Caleb Manion, Ian Moir, Víctor Hugo Peña, Fred Rodriguez, Oscar Sevilla, David Taner, David Vitoria and Justin Williams.