It was announced by the UCI yesterday that, apart from the annulment of his victory in the 2013 Japan Cup, there will be no further sanctions for Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo) in regards to his positive clenbuterol test recorded last October.

Rogers tested positive for clenbuterol following his last season’s maiden victory claimed in the Japan Cup on October 20th, where he participated after his appearance at the Tour of Beijing in the same month.

The clenbuterol contaminated meat is a well recognized threat for riders taking part in cycling events in China and after the news broke in the middle December, the 34-year old Australian insisted that he has never ingested a banned substance deliberately.

“I would like to make it very clear, in the strongest terms possible that I have never knowingly or deliberately ingested Clenbuterol,” Rogers wrote.

“I can advise that during the period 8th-17th October, before arriving in Japan, I was present in China for the WorldTour race, Tour of Beijing," Rogers wrote. "I understand that it has been acknowledged by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as well as other anti-doping bodies, that food contaminated with Clenbuterol is a serious problem in China.”

The Tinkoff-Saxo team expressed their support for the 34-year old Australian and claimed that they trust in Roger’s innocence, however, nor the Danish WorldTour squad neither the rider have been informed on the development in an ongoing case for over four months.

In the official press release published by the UCI yesterday, it was stated that:

"Upon careful analysis of Mr Rogers' explanations and the accompanying technical reports the UCI found that that there was a significant probability that the presence of clenbuterol may have resulted from the consumption of contaminated meat from China – where he had taken part in a race before travelling to Japan," in a statement issued by the UCI on Wednesday.

"As a result, the UCI has proceeded with the automatic disqualification of Mr Rogers' results at the 2013 Japan Cup Cycle Road Race (the competition during which the positive sample was taken) but, after consulting WADA, decided that he should not be sanctioned any further," it further read.

However, in the same statement published yesterday, the UCI warned about the dangers of ingesting contaminated foot while in China and Mexico, what immediately triggered a debate about the approach to similar cases in the future.

Cycling Australia expressed their full support for the decision made by the UCI in a press release from their CEO Adrian Anderson.

"CA is pleased that Michael has been given the chance to prove his innocence via the UCI appeal process," said Anderson. "We support the findings of WADA and the UCI regarding sanctioning and look forward to seeing him now return to competition."

Convinced about his innocence, Rogers has been training while being provisionally suspended, most recently on Etna together Tinkoff-Saxo Giro d’Italia contenders, and expressed his readiness to return to competition and line up at the Tour de France as a key support to Alberto Contador right after the final UCI verdict has been announced.

“I continued my training all those months. I haven’t missed a single day of training holding on to a hope of receiving today’s message,” Rogers told CyclingTips.

“At this time of the year, it is one of the places at high altitude with pretty good weather conditions,” Rogers said about his altitude training on Mount Etna, “I went there to take an advantage of training at high altitude. I’ve been working hard and I still have enough time to get myself ready for the Tour de France.”

“Now it’s all about meeting with the team and working out the best and most efficient way for me to reach the top disposition ahead of the Tour.”

The 34-year old Australian, who is expected to play an important role in Contador’s Tour de France campaign, was pleased to observe that the Tinkoff-Saxo captain eventually managed to return to his best with emphatic victories at the Tirreno-Adriatico and Vuelta al Pais Vasco this season.

“I got to know Alberto quite well last year and it’s very encouraging to see him at his best again,” Rogers said.

“Everyone has good years, everyone has bad years, and it’s certainly nice to see Alberto back to his best. I think that if he’s able to continue in the same line, with the condition he has shown earlier this season, he has a very big chance to win the Tour.”

The Tinkoff-Saxo team, which have been supportive to Rogers while investigation was in progress, also commented on the final decision made by the UCI.

“We are pleased to have received the news that Michael Rogers will receive no further sanction after returning a positive test for clenbuterol at the 2013 Japan Cup (other than the disqualification of his result in that race). The past four months have been difficult for Michael; for the team this also has not been easy as he is a key rider for us and his absence was missed particularly in the early season stage races. So we are especially pleased that he can now get back to racing. We will be sitting down with Michael to agree his race calendar and we look forward to seeing him at his best,” Danish team said in the press release.