Shari Bossuyt has protested her innocence after testing positive for Letrozole, suggesting she is a victim of contamination and likening her situation to a prisoner wrongly convicted of murder.
The anti-doping case came to light on Sunday as the Canyon-SRAM team announced that they had suspended the Belgian rider from racing after being notified of the positive test from the Tour de Normandie in France on March 19.
Letrozole, which is primarily used to treat estrogen-sensitive cancer in post-menopausal women, is a 'specified' substance, so does not come with an automatic provisional suspension from the UCI but would lead to a ban if an anti-doping rule violation is upheld.
Bossuyt, who last raced at Paris-Roubaix Femmes in early April, shortly after extending her contract with Canyon-SRAM, held a press conference in Zwevegem on Monday morning to address the matter.
"I've ended up in an unreal situation. I have never come into contact with Letrozole and have never consciously used it. This was even the first time I had heard of Letrozole," she said, according to Sporza.
"It feels unfair," she added. "I compare it to being put in prison for murder when you didn't commit murder. That's what it feels like."
Bossuyt outlined her determination to fight the case and clear her name, starting with an explanation to the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) as to how the substance ended up in her system.
"Everything indicates that we are dealing with a contamination," she claimed.
"Hopefully we can quickly provide clarity to the necessary authorities. And above all that we can prove that we are not cheaters," she said.
The Toon Aerts connection
In talking of a collective, Bossuyt was referring to Toon Aerts, her compatriot who is facing a two-year ban after testing positive for Letrozole last year. Aerts was present at Monday's press conference, sitting beside Bossuyt's mother, and the pair are both managed by the same agent, Yannick Prevost.
Prevost has already worked extensively on offering a plausible explanation on the account of Aerts, who also protests his innocence, giving Bossuyt something of a head start in her defence.
"We have been working on this file for a year," said Prevost on Monday. "It is very difficult to prove that it is a contamination from food.
"We are walking a track, but we cannot yet make it concrete. What we can say is that Shari and Toon both tested positive after competitions in Normandy, in Flamanville to be precise.
"Letrozole is used for the fertilization of cows and sheep. That is a relatively new technique. It is currently a hypothesis that we cannot yet substantiate. Because the food industry does not yet test for Letrozole."
Prevost called on the UCI and WADA to investigate the case as he insisted: "Shari and Toon are not dopers users, but victims."
