Under stress from the UCI to explain what the federation claims are abnormal blood values, Jon Tiernan Locke (Sky) will be given some margin of freedom and a possible postponement of the initial deadline if he isn’t able to offer an explanation before the required time limit.

According to reports in the British daily the Telegraph, Tiernan Locke rider is still piecing together the information he needs to clarify that his unusual blood values are not due to blood doping. Initially granted twenty days to respond, Tiernan Locke may be given additional time to deliver his response.

On Sunday September 29th the Sunday Times reported that the 28-year-old rider had been contacted by the UCI several days earlier, with world cycling’s  governing body issuing a warning that the blood values from his biological passport appeared irregular.

At the time, Tiernan Locke was given twenty days to provide a clarification.

It was announced that the suspicious blood values dated back to September 2012. This date coincided with the month when Tiernan Locke won the Tour of Britain, clinching a contract with Team Sky in the process. Tiernan Locke had previously been racing with the Continental Endura team, and showed a noticeable enhancement on prior achievements.

In the wake after the breaking of the news, the Endura team issued a statement making it clear that it was dedicated to racing clean and saw no warning signs while Tiernan Locke was part of the squad.

“Endura Racing’s culture has always been entirely at odds with cheating in any form including the use of PEDs and nothing in JTL’s conduct during his 2012 season with the Team gave rise to concerns that his approach was at odds with this in any way.”

Tiernan Locke had first been due to form part of the British team in the world road race championships last month, three days before the start of the race, he issued a statement saying that he would not participate in the race.

According to the Telegraph, the UCI has told the newspaper that it had the discretion to prolong the twenty day cut-off date and that it would do so if Tiernan Locke should ask for an extended period of time to provide an explanation.

Earlier this month Tiernan Locke said that he was “extremely confident” of proving that the analyses which prompted the UCI warnings were due to illness he suffered this year.