South African marathon runner Yolande de Villiers tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide during the 2015 Cape Epic. This substance is a diuretic that is used to cover up doping and is therefore considered equivalent to doping. Based on the confirmed sample, de Villiers was banned by the UCI from January 31 to December 30, 2015.

However, the sanctions imposed by the Cape Epic organization are likely to hurt her much more. This is because the anti-doping rules were tightened in the Cape Epic regulations at the end of 2012. These state that any rider who has tested positive since December 31, 2012 will be banned from the Cape Epic for life.
This rule is being enforced for the first time in the case of Yolande de Villiers. Her third place overall, which she achieved together with Czech rider Janka Keseg Stevkova, must also be forfeited. Furthermore, as a South African, her exclusion from the world's most important mountain bike stage race in her own country will be particularly painful.

The fact that this rule exists and is actually enforced sets a great example. It is not uncommon for bans, even if they last two years, to be too little of a deterrent. If other major event organizers ride with the same guns, this could have a greater impact in the fight against doping in the future.

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Photo ©Karin Schermbrucker / Cape Epic