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Cyclist Nairo Quintana Rojas was disqualified from the Tour de France by the International Cycling Union after two positive tests for Tramadol, a powerful painkiller.
Colombian cyclist Nairo Quintana Rojas caught up in the fight against doping. The Union Cycliste Internationale announced on Wednesday that he was disqualified from the Tour de France, where he finished sixth, after two positive tests for Tramadol. The analyzes of two blood samples provided by the runner on July 8 and 13 revealed the presence of this product banned since July 1.er March 2019. The UCI adds that Nairo Quintana Rojas, who finished on the final podium of the Tour three times in 2013, 2015 and 2016, has ten days to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. However, it is specified that the ban on the use of Tramadol in competition constitutes an infringement of the UCI regulations but not a violation of the anti-doping rules, which is why the cyclist can continue to take part in competitions. It is also his first offence, the statement said.
The UCI explains that it has “prohibited the use of Tramadol in competition in all disciplines and categories in order to protect the health and safety of riders given the side effects of this substance”. This painkiller is “the opioid substance most delivered in France (nearly 6 million patients) and the most involved in hospitalizations and deaths by overdose or accidental intoxication”, writes on its site UFC Que Choisir. The National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products indicates for its part that Tramadol is “the first analgesic involved in deaths linked to the taking of analgesics, ahead of morphine”. Delivered on prescription, it is also “the second most frequently found analgesic on falsified prescriptions presented in pharmacies, behind codeine”. Tramadol, it says, should always be “dispensed in the smallest possible pack sizes, suitable for prescription for the shortest possible duration.”
The news of the disqualification of Nairo Quintana, 32, comes as he extended Tuesday with the Arkéa Samsic team until the end of the 2025 season. He should take the start of the Tour of Spain on Friday, which he won in 2016.