Belgian cycling star Tom Boonen has been banned from competing in the Tour de France following his positive drug test for cocaine, the organizers, Amaury Sport Organization, (ASO) said on Thursday.
The 28-year-old Quick Step rider tested positive for cocaine in April, less than a year after he first tested positive for the drug in May last year.
“In the wake of Tom Boonen’s recent drug test, which followed a previous positive test in 2008, the Tour de France, having spoken to representatives from his Quick Step team, can only note that the image and the behavior of Tom Boonen are incompatible with the image of the Tour de France and the image that such an exceptional champion should try to display,” the ASO said in a statement.
“In these circumstances and in order to preserve his reputation, his image and those of the Tour de France, the ASO group has decided not to accept the presence of Tom Boonen in its event,” it said.
ASO said Boonen and Quick Step have the right to appeal to the arbitration panel of the French national sports and Olympic committee (CNOSF).
There was, however, some good news for Boonen, as the sport’s governing body, the International Cycling Union (UCI), announced they would be taking no disciplinary action against him for his positive test.
“Finally, the UCI management committee has decided not to institute disciplinary proceedings against Mr Tom Boonen for having allegedly taken cocaine out of competition, after the Belgian rider supplied a number of elements in his defense,” a statement from the UCI read.
The president of the Belgian Cycling Federation (LVB), Laurent De Backer, said the ASO’s decision was “regrettable.”
“Tom Boonen is accused of having taken cocaine, but outside competition,” De Backer told the news agency Belga.
“ASO is the boss of its own competition, but from a purely sporting perspective it strikes me as inconceivable to prevent a rider from taking part.
“Apparently at ASO they mix the sporting and the legal aspects of this case,” De Backer said. “Personally I expected another outcome. It’s regrettable for Belgian cycling.”
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