Cyclist Beats Doping Case, Confirms Retirement.

Former EF Education-Tibco-SVB rider Lizzy Banks announced her personal website, that after a 10-months long fight with anti doping agency UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), she was found at "no fault or negligence" and will have "no sanction and no period of ineligibility imposed." Despite this ruling, Banks noted that efforts to clear her name "cost me a huge amount, literally and metaphorically," and in the end there was no coming back from this debacle.

I knew already that professional cycling was over for me," wrote Banks. "Even if I wanted to go back, I didn't think I ever could because of how damaging this has been and the way it has destroyed my husband and me. I could not risk putting us both through anything like this again.

How did this start?

Last July, the Giro d'Italia Women stage winner was notified by UKAD that she tested positive for two substances–Formoterol and Chlortalidone. Banks noted that she used Formoterol for four years to treat her asthma, and the levels noted on the test were "in line with how I have been prescribed it." The second substance, Chlortalidone, a diuretic, "was detected at a low concentration indicative of contamination."

"UKAD didn't argue that the chlorthalidone use was intentional," she said. "I understand from both emails and many phone conversations that at no point did UKAD believe either that I had "used" chlorthalidone intentionally, or that I had actually ingested a pharmacologically effective dose. Yet UKAD's key argument was that the burden of proof lay on me to rule these scenarios out."

Efforts to clear her name

Banks, a trained doctor before joining the pro peloton, investigated and researched how she could have inadvertently ingested Chlorthalidone. She submitted her hair test results to UKAD, hired lawyers, and spent approximately £40,000 ($50,843) to defend herself.

Working with legal counsel, Banks provided UKAD with 144 pages and over 42,000 words covering "scientific evidence, documentation, research, and case law" to show that "not only was pharmaceutical contamination evident on the balance of probabilities, but it was beyond a reasonable doubt."

In the end, the source of the contamination was never identified, and UKAD absolved the new woodworker—Bank's new hobby–of fault just five days before her case was slated for a tribunal hearing.

What is UKAD's position?

"Following concerning reports in the media and comments made by professional cyclist Ms. Elizabeth Banks on Tuesday, 21 May 2024, UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) confirms that Ms Banks has committed anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) and that the applicable period of ineligibility has been eliminated on the basis that Ms Banks bore no fault or negligence for those ADRVs," said UKAD according to the Independent.

"UKAD also notes Ms Banks' comments with concern and will be looking into what it can do to better support athletes going through anti-doping rule violation proceedings."

Banks' full account can be found on her website lizzybanks.co.uk.