Time triallists who dope will have to pay £1000 to race again

Cycling Time Trials (CTT) has updated its regulations, adding a clause which means anyone caught doping will have to pay £1000 before they're allowed to race again.

The National governing body for time trialling in the UK has made an adjustment to its regulations, ahead of the 2020 season.

The payment will go directly to the CTT.

Regulation 25 now states: "Any person whom at an anti-doping control at an Event has provided a sample that subsequently returned an adverse analytical finding that results in a sanction that such person is ineligible for competition for a period of time, shall pay a fine to Cycling Time Trials of £1000.

"Any such person shall not be eligible to compete in any Event until such time as such fine has been paid."

The CTT regulates time trials in the UK - this includes open event and mid-week club tests.

Testing at CTT events is limited, though it does take place at the National events within the calendar. In 2016, the body ran 72 anti-doping tests, up from 44 the previous year. 

The tests have indeed uncovered a number of positive results. In 2017, 60-year-old Stephen Costello tested positive after finishing 95th in a 25 mile time trial.

The Abbotsford Park Road Club rider tested positive for 1,3-Dimethylbutylamine, Ostarine, and GW1516 after completing the Stone Wheelers 25-mile time trial in May that year. He claimed his wife had ben "spiking" his smoothies with the substance.

The same year, Cycling Weekly ran a reader survey, with one in 20 amateur riders admitting to doping.

One year earlier, in 2016, then National 12-hour time trial champion Robin Townsend tested positve for the stimulant modafinil, at a 100-mile event.