UCI, WADA drop appeal case against Czech cyclist Kreuziger

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) Czech cyclist Roman Kreuziger was cleared of doping Friday, just days ahead of a Court of Arbitration for Sport appeal hearing in his case.

The International Cycling Union said there was ''no basis to proceed further'' against Kreuziger.

''I feel a huge relief,'' Kreuziger said. ''I'm not a cheater. My name has been fully cleared and I'm happy about it.''

The UCI and World Anti-Doping Agency had filed a joint appeal against a Czech Olympic Committee ruling that closed a case of apparent abnormalities in Kreuziger's biological passport.

The biological passport program is used by sports bodies to monitor an athlete's blood profile over time for evidence of doping.

The UCI did not give details of the confidential ''newly obtained information'' which prompted the two bodies to drop the appeal, which had been scheduled to be heard by CAS next Wednesday.

The UCI has never lost an appeal verdict involving a biological passport case at CAS. A defeat in the Kreuziger case could have weakened the legal strength of the project.

The 29-year-old Tinkoff-Saxo team rider never tested positive for banned drugs or doping methods.

However, the UCI and WADA had believed his blood readings from 2011-12 were suspicious.

Tinkoff-Saxo said in a statement that ''management has always believed in Kreuziger and expressed its support, since the outset of the case.''

The team dropped him from the 2014 Tour de France during a prolonged investigation.

The UCI then provisionally suspended Kreuziger to keep him out of the Spanish Vuelta.

Kreuziger's biggest career victories have been in stage races in Switzerland. He won the 2008 Tour de Suisse and the Tour of Romandie in 2009.