3 mars 2004
John Stevenson
Canadian rider Genevieve Jeanson has been granted a racing licence by USA Cycling, according to a report on canadiancyclist.com. Jeanson was unable to start at her first scheduled race of the season, the Valley of the Sun stage race, because her home body, the Quebec cycling federation refused to issue her a licence until she presents medical documents explaining her high haematocrit at last year's world championships. Jeanson was refused a start at the world's after returning a haematocrit reading above the UCI permitted level.
Jeanson is able to take out a US license because she is a resident of Arizona. According to USA Cycling's Sean Petty, UCI rule 1.1.0.11 directs a rider to take out a license "where, according to the legislation of that country, the applicant has his main residence at the time of application."
Petty told Cyclingnews, "The rule 1.1.0.11 basically states that a rider should take out a license in the country where by they have legal residence. We do this for a number of foreigners who ride for US teams and live in the US. That's normal. According to Jeanson, she is a resident of the USA. It is also the understanding of the CCA [Canadian Cycling Association] that this is the situation too."
Although she has never tested positive, Jeanson has been under a cloud since the world's, a situation that has not been helped by her association with Canadian doctor Maurice Duquette, who pled guilty last year to 13 charges of wrongfully prescribing, including one charge that he prescribed EPO to Jeanson. Duquette later retracted his statement and denied any such charge concerning Jeanson, and has claimed that his first lawyer was not authorized to enter the guilty plea, and thus has challenged the previous verdicts.
As a member of USA Cycling, Jeanson will be subject to the same testing regimen as other top athletes, according to Petty. "She was told that once she took the license, she would be enrolled with USADA and be subject to no-notice regular random testing," he said.
"She agreed to that and understands that and we have sent her the paperwork. Basically if she doesn't fill out the paperwork or fails to complete three tests in an 18 month period she would be suspended. So she is on the clock now and understands that. Further if there was something that came up she would be subject to our rules. It is more than likely that she will be tested quite regularly. In fact most of our athletes are tested multiple times per year."
page mise en ligne le 2 mars 2004 par SVP
