Jonathan Tiernan Locke has finally arrived at Team Sky’s first training vamp of the new season in Majorca to begin training towards a successful season, despite not knowing if he will even be allowed to race. He pulled out of competition in September after withdrawing from the UCI Men’s World Road Race Championships in Florence after learning that his biological passport showed erratic readings. Since then, the 28 year old has been waiting on the outcome of a UCI enquiry that ill determine if his blood levels were caused by doping.

The issue with the biological passport first emerged on the 29th of September when The Sunday Times printed an article stating that there were anomalies, which the UCI felt needed investigating. Tiernan Locke was given twenty days to provide an explanation but was later given an extension in order to gather more information. This has now been submitted to he UCI.

The Sunday Times stated that the blood issues dated back to September 2012, the same month that Tiernan Locke won the Tour of Britain and secured a contract with Team Sky for both the 2013 and 2014 seasons. He was racing for the Continental team Endura at the time.

Normally, biological passport cases only become apparent if the expert panel conclude that doping was responsible for the suspect values. VeloNation believes Tiernan Locke’s defense may be illness, which he feels that caused a change in his blood levels. Contacted in recent weeks, his team, his agent and the UCI have all declined to comment on the matter, saying that it is an ongoing process. However, it is believed he will have a better idea of his future when he returns from the camp. 

He had a disappointing season this year, telling VeloNation that the team’s training program didn’t work well for him and that he intended going back to his previous approach that saw him win the Tour of Britain, the Tour du Haut Var and the Tour Méditerranéean.

Should Tiernan Locke be found guilty of doping, he would be force to leave Team Sky, who have a zero tolerance doping policy and his future career as a professional cyclist would be thrown into doubt.