The UCI has just announced a 17-month suspension for Vlad Dascalu not for having been found positive in an anti-doping test but for failing to provide, on 3 occasions, his precise whereabouts. We remind you that athletes must always provide their location when travelling: in the event of an anti-doping control, you have a short period of time (estimated at approximately 1 hour) to arrive beyond which the warning is triggered.
Vlad Dascalu has had 3 such infractions in a 12 month period and they are considered a violation of the anti-doping rules. And so a sanction was applied. A bad situation considering that Vlad Dascalu is one of the great stars of the world XCO, and now the Olympics are seriously at risk.
The sanction will come into force on May 21, 2024 and end on October 20, 2025, which would also mean saying goodbye to the entire 2025 season. He is currently 12th in the UCI world ranking and a few days ago took part in the European Championships held in his country . Of Romanian nationality, but resident in Spain, he is part of Trek Factory Racing.
Let's see what Dascalu's reasons will be regarding this bad news and whether he will try to appeal to save the Olympic year.
