The sanction fell at midday for the cyclist of Orleans origin and installed in Indre, Marion Sicot. Already sentenced to two years of suspension for having injected EPO in 2019, the sentence was increased by the Council of State. The young woman is suspended from competition for two more years, until March 2024.
Tested positive for EPO during the French championships in June 2019, she had admitted to having voluntarily doped to try to win back the confidence of her coach, she explained at the time. She then said that Marc Bracke, who was training her at that time, had put her aside because she refused to continue sending him pictures of herself in her underwear.
She filed a complaint against him for sexual harassment with the Montargis prosecutor’s office in Loiret.
The AFLD judges its own commission
In view of this situation, the sanctions commission of the French Agency for the fight against doping had reduced to two years against four, the suspension planned usually for voluntary injection. Decision therefore called into question by the AFLD which judges its own commission and had appealed to the Council of State, thus winning the case. Regarding the case of sexual harassment of which Marion Sicot claims to be a victim, the AFLD considers that these “circumstances, however unfortunate, could not, however, justify taking EPO“.
However, it is a huge blow for the cyclist who returned to competition last summer and who had decided to embark on a course in the form of redemption, engaging in the fight against doping and publishing a book-testimony on his journey. A book in which she denounced the harassment of which she claims to be a victim. The cyclist had also resumed sport in triathlon (licensed in Châteauroux) and in endurance cycling events. She had also broken the world record for elevation gain in 24 hours at Alpe d’Huez last September.
Sledgehammer
Marion Sicot says to herself more than dejected: “I don’t know what to tell you I wonder if there’s any justice” she told us. “I really played total transparency with the French Anti-Doping Agency and in the end, I pay the same price. than a person who says nothing. Especially since my case is still special. “Ihe young woman does not even know exactly how long her suspension will run and above all does not yet know at this time whether she will return to high-level sport “I do not know yet, it’s a lot of ‘effort. I can’t tell you. For the moment I digest”