Amateur cyclist whose previous doping ban paved way for pursuit of Lance Armstrong tests positive for seven banned substances

A Californian cyclist has tested positive for no fewer than seven substances after providing a sample at an amateur race earlier this year. Kayle LeoGrande, 40, had already served a two-year suspension for using EPO in 2007 – a conviction that paved the way for the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) pursuit of Lance Armsrong. LeoGrande has been banned for eight years for his latest offence.

LeoGrande’s positive test came at the Dana Point Grand Prix of Cycling, where he won the Masters 35+ event.

USADA said that he had been tested as part of the organisation’s RaceClean Program that works to fight doping at the amateur level of cycling.

LeoGrande tested positive for raloxifene, ostarine, ibutamoren, GW1516 sulfone, RAD140, LGD4033, and andarine as the result of an in‐competition urine sample he provided on April 30.

According to USADA: “Raloxifene and GW1516 sulfone, a metabolite of GW1516, are prohibited substances in the class of Hormone and Metabolic Modulators; ostarine, RAD140, LGD4033 and andarine, are prohibited substances in the class of Anabolic Agents; and ibutamoren is a prohibited substance in the class of Peptide Hormones, Growth Factors, Related Substances and Mimetics.

“These substances are prohibited at all times under the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing, the United States Olympic Committee National Anti-Doping Policies, and the International Cycling Union Anti-Doping Rules, all of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code and the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.”

LeoGrande did not contest the failed test.

Cycling News reports that of the seven drugs, only raloxifene is approved for human use (as an osteoporosis treatment). Five of the other six are in development, while GW1516 was abandoned by its developers after it caused cancer in lab animals. In 2013, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) warned users of possible health risks, stating that "clinical approval has not, and will not be given for this substance".

Leogrande was one of the first cyclists to be sanctioned for doping without a positive test. He confessed to Rock Racing team soigneur Suzanne Sonye that he was worried about testing positive and Sonye alerted the US Anti-Doping Agency. Other evidence included a photograph of him with a handful of vials of EPO.

Obtaining a doping conviction against Leogrande without a positive test encouraged USADA to investigate persistent rumours of doping on Lance Armstrong's US Postal and Discovery Channel teams.

In 2012 USADA chief Travis Tygart told the New York Times: “Without Leogrande, who knows, the Armstrong investigation maybe never would have happened.”

In 2014, car maker Ford removed a video clip for its latest Mustang from YouTube following complaints that convicted doper Leogrande featured prominently.