The United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA) has announced amateur cyclist Noslen Ruiz-Gutierrez of Miami, Florida has been found guilty of doping and banned from the sport for four years after testing positive for banned substances at the 2022 Tour of South Florida.

Ruiz-Gutierrez (Corratec) is the sixth amateur cyclist participating in the Tour of South Florida to be banned since 2020 for doping.

Ruiz-Gutierrez, 48, tested positive for dexamethasone, phentermine, 19-noretiocholanolone (19-NE), 19-norandrosterone (19-NA), and an anabolic agent as the result of an in-competition urine sample collected on the second day of the Tour of South Florida, 5 February 2022.

Six years of online results for Ruiz-Gutierrez primarily show mid-pack finishes, but at the 2022 Tour of South Florida, while competing with banned substances in his body, he finished third on the first day.

The next day he tested positive for the five banned substances.

At his anti-doping arbitration hearing, Ruiz-Gutierrez showed a complete disregard for his responsibility to follow anti-doping rules. When asked he said, “I’m not the one who has to think about those things [referring to the anti-doping rules].That is USADA’s problem, not mine.” Adding, that as a forty-eight (48) year old athlete, “I don’t care to compete, I do cycling for recreation-not for competition.”

Although Ruiz-Gutierrez said he does not compete, his results paint a different picture. He has participated in 67 amateur bikes races since 2016.

The other five Miami area riders caught violating anti doping rules since 2020 at the Tour of South Florida and receiving competitive bans are: Nelson Trujillo, Geony Borrego Lee, Hanncer Valdes, Jeff Martin and Leynier Alonso.

Photos: NCL