In the News: Tiernan-Locke wants a chance to clear his name
Although Tiernan-Locke's bio-passport case appears similar to Kreuziger's, the banned Brit says he won't go to CAS to appeal
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The Herald Express reports that former Sky rider Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, who was banned for biological passport irregularities in 2014, says it’s still not an option for him to follow cleared Czech star Roman Kreuziger to the Court Of Arbitration For Sport (CAS), but he would ‘grab with both hands’ a chance to challenge his own suspension in ‘a proper court.’
They both challenged their original, respective doping bans, which were based on bio-passport data. Kreuziger was allowed to resume riding for the top Tinkoff-Saxo team after being cleared by the Czech cycling authorities, but the UK Anti-Doping Agency rejected Tiernan-Locke’s appeal. The UCI then appealed the Kreuziger verdict to CAS, only to pull out only days before last week’s hearing. They cited ‘newly obtained information,’ but have given no details and say they will not comment further.
“Should the chance arise in the future where I could be heard at a proper court, I would grab it with both hands, as I’m confident the ‘passport’ would not stand up to the same scrutiny applied to forensics there,” said Tiernan-Locke