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 Eighteen year-old Gabriel Evans said in a statement on a
time-trialling website and an interview with Cycling Weekly magazine
that he had been tempted to dope after losing the national 25-mile
time trial title in August and having watched a BBC documentary on
doping.
"A lot of it was curiosity. On 3 August 2015 I bought EPO for the
first time," he wrote.
"On 11 August 2015 I traveled to France for a week's training camp
with the family of a then-team mate.
"With me I brought one vial of EPO. This was found by the teammate’s
father who presented evidence to UK Anti-Doping.
"UKAD contacted me shortly after to arrange a deposition, in which I
promptly admitted to all wrongdoing."
Evans won the national junior 10-mile time trial in September but
has subsequently been stripped of the title and dismissed by two
amateur clubs, London Dynamo and Catford CC Equipe/Banks.
He has refused to say who supplied him with the EPO but offered a
warning to anyone considering using performance enhancing drugs.
"Know that my choice has turned out to be immensely destructive," he
said.
UKAD have not yet revealed his punishment.
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In a further blow to the sport, British Masters champions Andrew
Hastings, 35, was banned on Thursday for using anabolic steroids
despite coming up with a novel excuse.
Hastings tested positive at the National Time Trial Championships in
May and the following day won the British Cycling Masters 35-39 age
group title.
He said he had borrowed a used syringe from a stranger at a gym to
inject a vitamin and that the steroids detected must have come from
that needle.
(Reporting by Steve Tongue, editing by Mitch Phillips)
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