Antwan Tolhoek suspended after anabolic steroid finding

Antwan Toelhoek (Sabgal-Anicolor) has been provisionally suspended by the UCI after an adverse analytical finding for anabolic androgenic steroids, cycling’s governing body announced on Wednesday afternoon.

The finding was detected in an out-of-competition test carried out on 27 November 2023, whilst Tolhoek was a Lidl-Trek rider. The 29-year-old signed for Portuguese Continental side Sabgal-Anicolor over the winter.

In line with UCI anti-doping regulations, Tolhoek is provisionally suspended whilst investigations continue, and he is entitled to request analysis of the B sample.

In 2017, Tolhoek was suspended by team LottoNL-Jumbo (now Visma-Lease a Bike) for being in possession of sleeping pills, which contravened the team’s internal policies.

After signing for the team at the start of 2023, Tolhoek raced his final race for Lidl-Trek at the Tour of Guangxi in October, just over a month before the date of the positive test.

He moved to Sabgal-Anicolor for 2024, and made his debut for the side on Sunday, racing the national-level Prova de Abertura, where he finished 19th. He was set to race the Figueira Champions Classic and the Volta ao Algarve over the next week, but will now not start those races due to his suspension.

At the time of writing, neither Tolhoek nor his team, who are about to start the Tour of Antalya in Turkey, have not commented publicly on the UCI’s finding. GCN understands that Lidl-Trek, who employed Tolhoek at the time of the test, are preparing a statement.

A promising younger rider, Tolhoek joined the WorldTour with LottoNL-Jumbo in 2017, and continued on the team until the end of 2021 after completing his two-month internal suspension. During that time he won a stage of the Tour de Suisse and picked up top-5 results at various European races and in China, before moving to Trek-Segafredo in 2022.

A knee injury sustained in a crash at the UAE Tour in February saw Tolhoek miss almost five months of the 2023 season, only properly returning to competition in August at the Tour de Pologne.

More to follow