Pikulik accepts retrospective 18-month cycling ban

Polish cyclist Daria Pikulik accepted a retrospective 18-month suspension for three whereabouts failures, with all competitive results from December 9, 2024, through June 8, 2026, disqualified, the International Testing Agency said. The ineligibility period had ended before the decision was made public on October 19 and 20, 2026, so the announcement does not impose a new suspension period. The ITA said Pikulik did not contest the anti-doping rule violation and agreed to the consequences it proposed. The case was resolved through an acceptance of consequences rather than a contested final hearing. Under the UCI anti-doping rules, three whereabouts failures within 12 months constitute a violation. Such failures concern requirements for making an athlete available for out-of-competition testing; they are not, by themselves, findings that an athlete tested positive for a prohibited substance. Pikulik said the failures occurred in September 2023, October 2023 and September 2024. In a statement on Instagram, she attributed the third failure to an oversight amid a significantly increased workload, and said she had tried to keep her whereabouts information updated after the first two....