Franck Bonnamour has introduced that he is calling an finish to his biking profession, citing the monetary pressure of trying to combat towards 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 check on stage 20 of the 2022 Tour de France.
Bonnamour’s staff, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, fired him in late March, having acknowledged that the case dated to “checks carried out earlier than his arrival within the staff on January 1, 2023.” Within the meantime, he has continued to combat his case, insisting that he’s harmless of the fees.
Nevertheless, he introduced on Thursday to Ouest-France that he’s giving up the combat 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 Courtroom 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, growing the prices. I can not afford to lose every thing and that is holding me again financially.”
Bonnamour’s irregular profile dates again to his neo-pro season with Fortuneo-Important Idea in 2016 when testing returned excessive haemoglobin ranges. On the time of his provisional suspension, Samuel Meraffi, physician on the B&B Motels squad he raced with in 2021 and 2022, stated “I’ve by no means seen something irregular in his monitoring.”
Based on Pascal Chanteur, president of the French Riders’ Union, Bonnamour’s case is predicated on a check taken throughout 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 check 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 assessments carried out in 2016, which confirmed an atypical profile. I do not perceive why a 12 months glided by between this check on the finish of the 2022 Tour de France and the UCI’s notification.”
Bonnamour offered his house to fund his battle towards the UCI and has spent hundreds of Euros hiring specialists and attorneys, 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 may 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 retaining my household collectively.”
Bonnamour stays on the UCI’s listing 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 remaining sanction and eventual high quality, however Bonnamour accepts that he will not race once more.
“My profession is over. I have been via every thing,” he stated. “There have been troublesome moments, morale-wise, however I’ve the assist of my household and I am additionally receiving counselling.
“I am afraid of the long run, however I do know what I’ve and have not carried out.”
Along 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 Motels and his remaining full 2023 season at Decathlon AG2R.
His greatest season got here in 2021 when he completed a career-high 109th within the UCI rankings with 566 factors.
That 12 months, he gained 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.
