A former Canadian road race champion who pedalled on the Commonwealth Games team in New Delhi, India, has been banned from the sport for two years after testing positive for the blood-boosting drug, EPO.
Arnaud Papillon, 22, admitted to using a form of erythropoietin in an anti-doping test carried out by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport at the 2011 Canadian Road Championships in Burlington, Ont. That's where Papillon, of Longeuil, Que., placed second in the under-23 national road racing title and sixth in the Elite race. He'd been under-23 champion in 2010, returning to the top rank after he was the victim of a March 2009 hit-and-run accident in South Carolina. An SUV knocked him off his bicycle from behind and into a ditch.
"I do not deny the decision which I took and I take full responsibility for it. I admit having done something unacceptable and I regret it," Papillon said in a letter to the website Veloptimum. He apologized for breaching the trust of coach and teammates.
EPO is used by some athletes in endurance events such as road cycling to increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood.
Papillon said he'd only recently tried doping after a series of cycling disappointments caused him to compromise his ethics.
"I must live with this reality and learn from the consequences for the rest of my life. ... Cycling requires a transcendence where there is no place for artificial glory. I beg you not to take this direction."
The Canadian Cycling Association stripped Papillon of his 2011 result, leaving Hugo Houle of Steve Bauer's SpiderTech team as champion, while second place was reallocated to Jamie Riggs and third to Spencer Smitheman.
CCA president John Tolkamp said it was "not a victimless event; from our athletes to the broad cycling community the repercussions are felt and it tears at our identity.
"We are more proud of a fourth-place earned by sweat and perseverance than any tainted gold medal."
Cycle racing is working at rehabilitating its image after a series of high-performance drug scandals. In Canada, where cycling's previous positive test was in May, 2005, there have been 392 tests on cyclists -- blood and urine -- since April of last year. Of those tests 229 were out of competition, no notice tests. Papillon was tested prior to, during and after the Canadian championship competitions. a CCES statement said. The cyclist waived his right to a hearing and accepted the two-year ban dated from Aug. 12, 2011.
"It is unfortunate to learn that an athlete in our sport has chosen to take a short cut to performance," said CCA chief executive officer Greg Mathieu. "The fact that the rigorous testing regime of the national body with the collaboration of the CCES identified the problem should serve as a reminder to any that would cheat that they will be caught and sanctioned harshly."
The CCA will ask Papillon to cooperate with the CCES in its investigation of the source of the banned substance and the possible involvement of others in this doping matter.