Tenth in the French Time Trial Championship in June 2019, cyclist Marion Sicot (27) had tested positive for EPO. After denying for several months and talking about “rules”, she admitted to having been doped during an interview broadcast this Sunday evening on the Stade 2 program. “I want to tell the truth. I tried to protect myself by lying. But once you tell the truth, you're much better, you get to sleep better and get up in the morning by being a little more proud of what you've done. "
In this report, she went further by explaining the reasons that led her to "slip". She accuses her former manager in the Belgian Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport team, Marc Bracke, of having harassed her. He allegedly criticized her for "being too fat".
Faced with threats and blackmail, Marion Sicot
gave in and consumed EPO. Back on a case of "forced doping" according to the cyclist, who testifies exclusively for # Stade2. pic.twitter.com/CJQEGdG5A7
To control her weight, he would have asked her, from November 2018, to send her photos where she must "take herself in a bikini then in small pants before and behind every Monday morning". Without a contract with the team, the manager also put pressure on her to pay her travel and accommodation costs.
The French Federation requests an investigation
According to her, he also asked her to sell two bikes at 1,250 euros each to renew her contract and stay on the team. "If I manage to get a performance, my sports director will give me as much importance as the other girls and will leave me alone with this relentlessness," she explains. I was disgusted, I was disgusted with the high-level world. I was reaching saturation, I was reaching the end. "
Given the circumstances, she hopes to have a reduced sanction. “I deserve to have a sanction but I would like to have a light sentence due to the circumstances with my sports director. It wasn't the real Marion who did that, "she hopes. In a press release, the FFC reacted by requesting that an investigation be launched by the UCI into the questionable practices practiced by the Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport team.
"Without prejudging the guilt of anyone, it is a question of taking the necessary measures so that the light is made and contribute to dissuade the possible authors of inadmissible acts, indicates the FFC in its press release. Far from excusing any doping practice, the French Cycling Federation recalls its intransigence towards any situation of violence or harassment and its determination to act with the utmost rigor to protect its athletes. "