Australia's Stannard gets four-year doping ban backdated to 2018

Australian cyclist Robert Stannard has been given a four-year doping ban backdated to 2018 due to abnormalities in his biological passport.

The former Alpecin-Deceuninck rider was provisionally suspended by cycling's global governing body (UCI) last year and removed from Australia's road race team for the world championships in Glasgow.

Stannard denied wrongdoing when his provisional suspension was made public last year.

The UCI's Anti-Doping Tribunal found Stannard had committed an anti-doping rule violation of using a "prohibited substance or a prohibited method".

However, the tribunal decided the period of suspension should start from August 17, 2018, the day that the first abnormality appeared.

The decision took into account a delay with which the rider's abnormalities were communicated to the UCI, the statement said.

Stannard, who won the Belgian Tour de Wallonie in 2022, does not currently have a team after his contract with Alpecin-Deceuninck ended last year but he is free to compete again with immediate effect.

The 25-year-old was also fined 70 per cent of his salary in 2018 and 2019.

A biological passport is an electronic record which includes the results of all doping tests collected over a given period.