A former French skilled bicycle owner was issued a 10-month suspended jail sentence and a €5,000 (£4,230 / $5,209) fantastic in a doping trial on Wednesday.
Marion Sicot, who competed between 2013 and 2019 and represented the nationwide squad, examined constructive for erythropoietin (EPO) in 2019. She was initially banned following the anti-doping management, and has now been sentenced in courtroom for the import and possession of doping merchandise.
The 32-year-old’s suspended sentence means she is not going to go to jail until she commits one other crime within the subsequent 10 months.
Sicot’s trial started in November and occurred in Montargis, south of Paris. In the course of the proceedings, the courtroom heard that she had taken prohibited substances, notably EPO and the fat-burning drug clenbuterol, between 2016 and 2019, throughout which era she rode for Belgian UCI crew Dotcini-Van Eyck Sport.
Her constructive EPO check got here after the French Nationwide Street Championships in 2019, the place she completed ninth. Sicot initially denied utilizing the drug, and acquired a lowered two-year ban. This was later prolonged to the complete four-year time period, which lasted till March 2024.
Throughout her trial, Sicot spoke of the “ease” with which she was capable of take banned substances. She additionally mentioned that doping shaped “an integral a part of this sport”, even when she skilled “no private achieve” in her profession.
“I remorse dishonest and mendacity. I dirtied my sport,” she mentioned. “I took the simple method out.”
Anti-doping in France is managed by the unbiased physique Agence Française de Lutte Contre le Dopage (AFLD). Based on the nation’s regulation, use of doping substances just isn’t a punishable offence, however the trafficking and possession of such substances is.
Legal guidelines are stricter within the USA, the place use of performance-enhancing medication can be punishable. Within the UK, doping in sport just isn’t a felony exercise.
Sicot was given a one-year suspended sentence on Wednesday, backdated two months to the start of her trial in November.
Additionally convicted within the case was a good friend of the Frenchwoman, a former semi-pro bicycle owner accused of importing and possessing doping merchandise. He acquired a 10-month suspended jail sentence and a €10,000 (£8,460 / $10,418) fantastic.
A 51-year-old physician suspected of forging prescriptions likewise stood trial. He, too, was given a 10-month suspended jail sentence, a heavier fantastic of €20,000 (£16,920 / $20,836), and a six-month ban from practising drugs.
