French cyclist Marion Sicot admitted to having doped with EPO, explaining her ” fault “ by the grip of its sports director at Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport, a team which is also the subject of a UCI investigation.
Marion Sicot, 31, tested positive at EPO on June 27, 2019, after the time trial of the French Road Championships, which she finished 10th.
“I was so lost that I was ready to take the risk”, said Marion Sicot, who admitted to having ordered ten bottles of EPO on the internet in late May 2019.
She wanted a performance so that her sports director Marc Bracke granted her “As important as other girls, (keep) her on the team and (leave) her alone with this relentlessness”, she adds.
After much hesitation, she said that she had an injection on June 24, before learning her positive test on July 18. Arrived in 2018 in the Doltcini-Van Eyck team, Sicot, officially self-employed but paid, says that another “Secret contract” forced him to pay his travel expenses, “That is to say train or plane tickets”. Contacted by Stade 2, the sporting director denied the existence of such a secret contract.
Relations between Marion Sicot and Marc Bracke “Get worse from month to month, (with) increasingly hurtful messages”, she adds. From November 2018, the sports director asks him for photos “In underwear”, for “Being able to control (his) weight”says Sicot. The manager acknowledged to Stade 2 having asked for these photos for this purpose.
“Sometimes he asks me twice a week. And clearly, if I don’t provide him with these photos, I won’t be able to do the early season shopping ”, adds the cyclist. Thereafter, she refuses to accede to his requests to send him “Photos a little more daring, in thong”.
“Without this dark year, I would never have taken EPO to try to get a result or a performance”, she justifies. The cyclist admits to having committed a fault and considers that she deserves a sanction – four years scheduled for taking EPO. “I would like to have a lighter sentence, because I have a few circumstances that made it happen”, she defends herself.
“Given the gravity of the accusations made by this runner, the president of the French cycling federation has decided to officially refer the president of the UCI to request that an investigation be carried out into the practices of this team”, said the FFC in a press release.
