Jonathan Tiernan-Locke admits that a place within a WorldTour team could be out of his reach but the banned rider has confirmed that he aims to compete in the sport once his doping ban ends in December of this year.
Tiernan-Locke was dismissed by Team Sky last year when the UCI announced that he had shown irregular biological passport values dating back to 2012. The values were before his time at Team Sky and he was handed a two-year suspension. He resolutely defended himself throughout the proceedings, stating that he had never doped, but with his ban ending this year the suspended athlete has already been approached by domestic teams in the United Kingdom.
“I love riding my bike and that hasn’t changed and that competitive edge has come back,” he told Cyclingnews.
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“I’ve kept myself healthy and I’m quite fresh. I know what it takes to get myself into decent shape and without trying to sound derogatory to anyone’s methods, I know that in 2013 I was always tired and I felt terrible. I’m just confident that if I’m looking after myself and doing what I need to do to get in shape then I can get back to that good level.”
Fitness and a willingness to compete are just two of the initial and controllable hurdles Tiernan-Locke will face if he is to race again. He believes that he can return to the level he reached in 2012, when he won the Tour of Britain and secured a WorldTour contract – the same year in which the biological case was built against him.
The former Team Endura and Sky rider admits that a place in the WorldTour could be beyond him however, with no current teams from the higher echelons of the sport yet to make contact, a situation that Tiernan-Locke adds would be hard to envision given his current status as a banned rider.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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