In a team statement, Bahrain Merida announced the Belarusian rider's AAF was for a sample collected in an out-of-competition control on 31 July 2018.
A UCI press release later confirmed the AAF was for erythropoietin, which under the UCI Anti-Doping Rules requires an immediate provisional suspension pending adjudication. Riders are allowed to request and attend the B sample's analysis but the UCI could not comment any further.
“This news is terribly disappointing," Brent Copeland, Bahrain Merida general manager said in the announcement. "We are very severe with any wrong doing with regards to our internal health code, this behaviour is not accepted by our team and further procedures will be taken against the rider."
But his days with Bahrain Merida were already numbered - Siutsou’s contract is up at the end of the year and the team notified him in June it was not re-signing him.
The 36-year-old domestique's career included stints at Team Dimension Data, Team Sky, and four years with the various iterations of HTC-Columbia (2008-2011). His last personal victory was the overall classification at the 2018 Tour of Croatia where he also claimed Stage 3. In 2009, he won Stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia.
