USADA announced today that Tim Root, of Boise, Idaho, an athlete in the sport of cycling, has received a four-year sanction for refusing to provide a urine sample to a doping control officer. Root was selected to submit a sample as a result of being among the top finishers in his event at the 2016 Anderson Banducci Twilight Criterium in Boise, Idaho.

Root was subject to testing because the event was sanctioned by USA Cycling, which maintains the RaceClean Program that works to fight doping at the amateur level of cycling. The goal of the RaceClean Program is to increase testing and education at the amateur level to provide greater doping deterrence, and this USA Cycling program is executed through member funding, donations, and local association partnerships.

Root, 49, refused to provide a sample upon being selected by a doping control officer during an in-competition test on July 16, 2016. Evading sample collection, or refusing or failing to submit to sample collection, without compelling justification is an anti-doping rule violation under the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing and the United States Olympic Committee National Anti-Doping Policies, both of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code.

Root’s four-year period of ineligibility began on November 2, 2016, the date on which his sanction was imposed. In addition, Root has been disqualified from all competitive results obtained on and subsequent to July 16, 2016, the date he refused to submit a sample, including forfeiture of any medals, points, and prizes.

• This media release was originally published by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) on 2 November 2016. To access the original, please click here.