It’s already been a month and a half since he was told of biological passport patterns that required further investigation, but Jon Tiernan Locke is still waiting to hear what the outcome will be. The Team Sky rider is planning towards the 2014 season, though, knuckling down to training in the belief that things will be fine.
“Things are going well, I'm back training and in my routine again,” the Briton stated, according to ciclismointernacional.com. “I sent my information to the UCI several weeks ago and I was able to give my explanations, so now I just have to wait.”
In recent days VeloNation sought comment from his agent Andrew McQuaid, from Sky and from the UCI as to what stage things were at, but each indicated that they were unable to comment on the matter.
The biological passport issue first emerged on September 29th when the Sunday Times printed a story stating that there were anomalies which the UCI felt needed investigation; otherwise, the entire process would have been confidential.
At the time he was given twenty days to provide an explanation, although the UCI later indicated that an extension to that was possible.
It was stated that the suspect blood values dated back to September of last year, the same month he won the Tour of Britain and thus secured a contract with Team Sky. Tiernan Locke had been racing with the Continental Endura team at the time, and showed a marked improvement on previous results.
Normally biological passport cases only become apparent if the expert panel conclude that doping was responsible for the suspect values, and bring a case.
It is thought that the basis for Tiernan Locke’s defence is illness, which he feels caused a change in his blood levels.
He is now waiting for a conclusion from the panel. “I wasn’t told how long the process will take so for now I forget the subject and go on with my life normally. I’m therefore preparing for next season.”