In April we learned that last season’s rising cyclocross star, Denise Betsema of Marlux-Bingoal (now listed on the new Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal super team), tested positive for an anabolic steroid.
Betsema proclaimed her innocence and asked for her urine B sample to be tested.
Denise Betsema has plenty to smile about after a breakout season. 2019 Telenet Superprestige Noordzeecross Middelkerke. Elite Women. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine
Today, Sporza reported that a “reliable source” told its editors that the B sample also tested positive.
Betsema had a breakout season last year, and featured in Corey Coogan Cisek’s profile, “Denise Overseas: Inside Denise Betsema’s Rise to Professional Cyclocross Stardom.”
She admitted at the time that her rise came faster than she expected. “It was a bit easier than I expected,” she said about her success, but then hastily corrected herself. “Not easier, it came faster than I expected.”
She attributed part of that success to losing 18 pounds. She told Coogan Cisek:
“I lost weight on purpose, but when you train a bit more, it also gets easier. My husband has worked in fitness for eight years, so he always checks his diet, and he helped me to lose the weight. It was a bit easy. We eat healthy but the food we eat is very good, so it is a bit easy. It worked out well.”
Given the recent news, readers can understandably view those quotes in a different light.
A positive B sample would mean Betsema is suspended until she either proves her innocence to the UCI or is acquitted in anti-doping court.
Stay tuned for more on this breaking story.
