World champion cyclist Rogers tests positive

Olympic medalist, 3-time cycling world champion Michael Rogers tests positive for clenbuterol

12/18/2013

AIGLE, Switzerland — Olympic bronze medalist and three-time world time trial champion Michael Rogers of Australia has tested positive for clenbuterol.

The International Cycling Union said Wednesday that Rogers is provisionally suspended while his national federation investigates the case.

Rogers tested positive for clenbuterol at the Japan Cap on Oct. 20, the governing body said.

The previous week Rogers rode to an 11th-place finish at the five-day Tour of Beijing. Widespread use of clenbuterol in livestock farming in China and Mexico has made those countries a well-known risk for athletes as it’s easier to ingest the substance there.

Clenbuterol, which helps build muscle and burn fat, is the substance Alberto Contador tested positive for at the 2010 Tour de France. Contador was stripped of his victory and served a two-year ban. Contador claimed he had eaten contaminated meat.

Rogers joined Contador at Team Saxo-Tinkoff last season from Team Sky, where he rode in support of 2012 Tour winner Bradley Wiggins.

Rogers left Sky after being named in evidence in the Lance Armstrong case as working with the American’s doctor Michele Ferrari around 2005.

In 2012, Rogers was upgraded to bronze in the time trial at the 2004 Athens Olympics when the IOC disqualified race winner Tyler Hamilton of the United States for doping.

Rogers won three straight world titles in the discipline from 2003-05. The UCI awarded him the first world title after British winner David Millar admitted doping.