"Deviations" in the biological passport: UCI suspends World Tour pro Bonnamour
Sebastian Lindner
· 06.02.2024
The 28-year-old has been riding for Decathlon - AG2R La Mondiale since the 2023 season. His team announced that it had "taken note" of the UCI's decision and was also suspending Bonnamour immediately. While the federation did not want to comment further for the time being, the French team was at least a little more specific. "This decision is based on tests that were carried out before he joined our team."
Bonnamour achieved four top 10 finishes at the Tour de France in 2021
Before Bonnamour joined AG2R, he rode for the B&B Hotels - KTM team for two years. This period also saw his greatest successes, in addition to the red back number at the Tour, his victory at the French one-day race La Polynormande (1.1) in 2022, second place at Paris-Tours (1.Pro) in 2021 and four top 10 finishes on stages at the Tour of France in the same year.
This season, Bonnamour has already competed for Decathlon - AG2R at the Tour Down Under, where his best result was 13th place on stage 2. Last year, Bonnamour only collected 38 race days, with 6th place at the Grand Prix Wallonie (1.Pro) in September standing out as his best result.
The Athlete Biological Passport
The Athlete Biological Passport was introduced by the UCI in 2008 to detect blood doping. As the direct detection of EPO, for example, is generally only possible for a short period of time, regular blood tests over a long period of time can detect deviations from a normal value, which can indirectly indicate doping. The long-term nature of the method explains the delayed suspension.
This, for its part, does not yet have the character of a doping ban, as there may be explanations other than deliberate manipulation for the deviation of some parameters in the biological passport. For this reason, a provisionally suspended professional, in this case Bonnamour, will first be given a hearing.
