Franck Bonnamour has introduced that he is calling an finish to his biking profession, citing the monetary pressure of making an attempt to battle in opposition to his suspension from racing over organic passport anomalies.
The UCI provisionally suspended the Frenchman in February over “unexplained anomalies in his organic passport”, which reportedly arose following a take a look at on stage 20 of the 2022 Tour de France.
Bonnamour’s crew, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, fired him in late March, having said that the case dated to “checks carried out earlier than his arrival within the crew on January 1, 2023.” Within the meantime, he has continued to battle his case, insisting that he’s harmless of the costs.
Nonetheless, he introduced on Thursday to Ouest-France that he’s giving up the battle and selecting to retire from racing.
“It is too pricey in monetary phrases so I am stopping,” Bonnamour stated. “We needed to begin proceedings earlier than the UCI tribunal earlier than going to the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport.
“If we had been profitable, the UCI would have appealed, which might have pushed again the deadline by a year-and-a-half, rising the prices. I can not afford to lose the whole lot and that is holding me again financially.”
Bonnamour’s irregular profile dates again to his neo-pro season with Fortuneo-Very important Idea in 2016 when testing returned excessive haemoglobin ranges. On the time of his provisional suspension, Samuel Meraffi, physician on the B&B Accommodations squad he raced with in 2021 and 2022, stated “I’ve by no means seen something irregular in his monitoring.”
In response to Pascal Chanteur, president of the French Riders’ Union, Bonnamour’s case relies on a take a look at taken in the course of the penultimate stage of the 2022 Tour de France – when Bonnamour is claimed to have been struggling COVID-19 signs and dehydration – and an out-of-competition take a look at from October 2018.
“What curiosity would he have had in doing that?” Chanteur requested Ouest-France in June. “It is a whole and flagrant injustice. I do not perceive why no worth is connected to the checks carried out in 2016, which confirmed an atypical profile. I do not perceive why a 12 months glided by between this take a look at on the finish of the 2022 Tour de France and the UCI’s notification.”
Bonnamour bought his condo to fund his battle in opposition to the UCI and has spent 1000’s of Euros hiring specialists and legal professionals, together with €4,000 to a biologist who carried out an evaluation “which clearly defined there was a chance of a defence”, he stated.
“He might clarify my atypical variations and profile. Earlier than signing his report, he contacted me and my lawyer, telling me that he would not be going any additional as a result of a few of his analysis was funded by WADA. He gave up on us.
“It has been troublesome for the final six months and I did not need it to go on like this for 2 or three years. My precedence is maintaining my household collectively.”
Bonnamour stays on the UCI’s checklist of provisional suspensions, with the reason is ‘Use of prohibited strategies and/or prohibited substances’ and faces a four-year ban from the game.
His lawyer is negotiating the size of his ultimate sanction and eventual fantastic, however Bonnamour accepts that he will not race once more.
“My profession is over. I have been by the whole lot,” he stated. “There have been troublesome moments, morale-wise, however I’ve the help of my household and I am additionally receiving counselling.
“I am afraid of the longer term, however I do know what I’ve and have not achieved.”
Together with his retirement, Bonnamour ends an eight-year profession in biking. The 2013 junior European champion turned professional in 2016 and spent 5 years at Arkéa-Samsic earlier than racing for 2 seasons on the now-defunct B&B Accommodations and his ultimate full 2023 season at Decathlon AG2R.
His finest season got here in 2021 when he completed a career-high 109th within the UCI rankings with 566 factors.
That 12 months, he received the Tour de France combativity prize after scoring 4 top-10 stage finishes. He additionally took podium spots at Paris-Excursions and the Tour de Limousin and scored top-10 finishes on the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana, Paris-Camembert, the Bretagne Traditional-Ouest France and the Tour de Jura.
