Rider, 90, fails drugs test

Positive doping tests for amateur cyclists are hardly unusual. But it is rare, perhaps, for the guilty party to be just 10 years short of a century.

Cycling fans were raising a quizzical eyebrow yesterday after 90-year-old Carl Grove, a Masters champion from Bristol, Indiana, was handed a public warning by the United States Anti-Doping Agency after testing positive for epitrenbolone on July 11 last year.

Grove, the oldest participant at the Masters Track National Championships, had set a world record in the men’s 90-94 sprint category.

He claimed that ingesting contaminated meat the evening before competing was “more likely than not” the reason for his positive test, pointing out that he had provided a clean sample the day before. Usada dismissed his argument, stripping him of his record.

While investigating the source of his positive test, Usada also determined that a supplement Grove was using before July 11 2018 was contaminated with clomiphene, another prohibited substance. The sheer absurdity of a 90-year-old testing positive will amuse some. But it is sure to alarm others, providing further evidence of a potentially serious problem within amateur cycling where testing is far less stringent.

In December 2015, 18-year-old national junior champion Gabriel Evans confessed to taking the blood booster EPO, saying he had been “curious” after watching the BBC Panorama doping documentary Catch Me If You Can.

Contaminated meat has been used to explain positive tests before, with Spaniard Alberto Contador attributing his positive test for clenbuterol during the 2011 Giro d’Italia to it.