The world governing body of cycling, the UCI, has handed a suspension of two years to former rider and directeur sportif Michael Boogerd.
In a press release issued by the UCI, it confirmed that the suspension of Boogerd would run until December 21, 2017. The statement on the UCI’s website reads the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announces that Michael Boogerd has been sanctioned with a two years’ ineligibility for the anti-doping rule violations he committed during his cycling career. It was further added that the ban is effective until 21 December 2017. The UCI also mentioned that the case has been resolved via an acceptance of consequences as provided for by the World Anti-Doping Code and the UCI Anti-Doping Rules and the UCI will not comment any further.
In a statement, Boogerd said he is bearing the responsibility because of his voluntary confession on March 6, 2013 and would accept the consequences of decisions that he had taken in the past. Boogerd added he did not receive a reduced ban as he was always alone and ready to tell his own story and not about other riders of coaches. In a statement, the Roompot team confirmed that Boogerd would not fight the suspension and added we wish Michael and his family a lot of strength in this difficult time and hope in the future to re-use his knowledge of and love for cycling.
Boogerd would not be able to continue in his role as a directur sportif for the Roompot – Oranje Peloton Pro Continental team. In addition to this, the results of Boogerd from 2005 to 2007 will be scratched from his palmares that included a victory at the Dutch national championships in 2006.
In an interview in 2013, the former Rabobank rider confessed to having used the banned blood booster EPO, cortisone, and blood transfusions. Boogerd, who was an official with the Dutch second-tier team Roompot Oranje last season, said he used banned substances at the end of his career from 1997 to 2007.
Nicknamed the “Boogie-man”, Boogerd was appointed team manager of Team Roompot, a UCI Professional Continental cycling team launching in 2015. Boogerd was a specialist in the one-day classics who won the Amstel Gold race in 1999 and edged Lance Armstrong into second place, and had two stage wins in the Tour de France. In 1993, he turned professional with the WordPerfect–Colnago–Decca team that would later become Racobank.
The Dutch former professional road bicycle racer was one of the leaders of a generation of Dutch cyclists in the late 1990s and early 2000s along with teammate Erik Dekker. The specialties of Boogerd were hilly classics such as La Flèche Wallonne, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and the Amstel Gold Race in the Ardennes week and the Lombardian races in the Fall, and mountain-stages. Boogerd has been Dutch Champion three times, in 1997, 1998 and in 2006.Boogerd finished 5th overall in the General classification in the 1998 Tour de France that was his highest finish ever in the Tour.
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