doping

An Ineos Grenadiers staff member has left the Tour de France after being asked to speak to the International Testing Agency about doping allegations relating to the 2012 season.

David Rozman is one of the team’s soigneurs, a role which involves working as an assistant to riders and providing a range of services from logistics to massages.

Ineos Grenadiers, then known as Team Sky, won the 2012 Tour de France, with Britain’s Bradley Wiggins claiming the yellow jersey, and the team went on to win six of the next seven editions of the race.

Ineos Grenadiers confirmed Rozman has received an interview request, external from the ITA after initially being contacted in April.

“Following recent media allegations, David [Rozman] has now received a request from the ITA to attend an interview,” Ineos Grenadiers said.

“Accordingly, he has stepped back from race duties and has left the Tour.

“Rozman was informally contacted in April 2025 by a member of ITA staff, who asked him about alleged historical communications.

“Although the ITA assured David at the time that he was not under investigation, Ineos promptly commissioned a thorough review by an external law firm.

“The team has acted responsibly and with due process, taking the allegations seriously whilst acknowledging that David is a long-standing, dedicated member of the team.

“The team continues to assess the circumstances and any relevant developments, and has formally requested any relevant information from the ITA. To date the team has received no evidence from any relevant authority.

“Both David and the team will of course co-operate with the ITA and any other authority.”

Earlier in July, the Irish Independent reported that in 2012, Rozman had exchanged messages with convicted German doping doctor Mark Schmidt.

A documentary by German TV company ARD also linked Ineos to Schmidt but did not name the staff member involved.

In 2021, Schmidt was sentenced to four years and 10 months in jail after being convicted of administering illegal blood transfusions to athletes within cycling and a number of other sports as part of Operation Aderlass.

When contacted by BBC Sport, the ITA said its investigations are “conducted confidentially” and “outcomes may only be shared if and when it yields the pursuit of one or more anti-doping rule violations.”

BBC Sport has also contacted Ineos Grenadiers for comment.

Track and field’s Athletics Integrity Unit suspend Ruth Chepngetich after record marathon runner’s positive doping test.

Women’s marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been provisionally suspended for a positive doping test.

Track and field’s Athletics Integrity Unit said on Thursday that Chepngetich tested positive for a banned diuretic and masking agent in March and “opted for a voluntary provisional suspension while the AIU’s investigation was ongoing.”

The Kenyan runner set the world record by almost two minutes at the Chicago Marathon last October in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 56 seconds. It was her third win in Chicago.

She also won the marathon at the 2019 world championships in Qatar, where the women’s race started at midnight to avoid extreme daytime heat.

The AIU gave no timetable for a disciplinary case for the 30-year-old runner.

Chepngetich was interviewed in person in Kenya in April and “complied with requests regarding our investigation”, AIU official Brett Clothier said in a statement.

The substance Chepngetich tested positive for, hydrochlorothiazide or HCTZ, can be used to disguise the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

The British player said she had suffered “19 months of lost time and emotional distress”, and that her reputation had been damaged as a result of the case.

She returned to the tour in April 2024 and has played mostly on the ITF World Tour since.

Earnings for doubles players are meagre, although Moore did make it into the main draw for Wimbledon and the US Open last year, as well as for the Australian Open this January.

But following a hearing in March, this ruling from Cas means she will not be free to play again until the start of the 2028 season.

“After reviewing the scientific and legal evidence, the majority of the Cas panel considered that the player did not succeed in proving that the concentration of nandrolone in her sample was consistent with the ingestion of contaminated meat,” Cas said in a media release.

“The panel concluded that Ms Moore failed to establish that the ADRV (Anti-Doping Rule Violation) was not intentional. The appeal by the ITIA is therefore upheld and the decision rendered by the Independent Tribunal is set aside.”

Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has been charged by the Football Association with breaching its anti-doping rules after he failed a drugs test.

The Ukraine international, 24, was provisionally suspended by the FA in December after an “adverse finding in a routine urine test”.

At the time he said he was in “complete shock” and he “never knowingly used any banned substances”.

He has not played for Chelsea since 28 November.

In a new statement on Wednesday, the FA said: “We can confirm that Mykhailo Mudryk has been charged with Anti-Doping Rule Violations alleging the presence and/or use of a prohibited substance, in terms of Regulations 3 and 4 of The FA’s Anti-Doping Regulations.

“As this is an ongoing case, we are not in a position to comment further at this time.”

Chelsea have not commented.