Caleb Yuan withdraws from Australian team for World Championships

Road
Caleb Yuan withdraws from Australian team for World Championships

Caleb Yuan has withdrawn from the Australian squad for Sunday's World Championships road race, citing concerns about his form. His absence is the second since Robert Stannard was provisionally suspended for an alleged doping violation.

Matthew Dinham and Alex Edmondson of DSM replaced Ewan and Stannard on the team.

Michael Matthews, who won medals at the Richmond, Bergen, and Wollongong World Championships, will lead the Australian challenge on Sunday, joined by Simon Clark, Luke Durbridge, Kayden Groves, Lucas Plapp, and Harry Swinney.

Ewan had two near-misses in the group sprint in the opening week of the Tour de France last month, but struggled on the climbs. He was bluntly criticized by Lot Dostony coach Stéphane Ouro after he abandoned the race on stage 13.

Stannard revealed Wednesday that he was provisionally suspended by the UCI for "using prohibited methods and/or substances" in 2018 and 2019 while racing for Mitchelton-Scott. He is currently with Alpecin Deceuninck and will be suspended from racing until the matter is resolved.

"Following discussions between Caleb and team management, it has been determined that Caleb will not be able to compete at his best at this World Championships and he has been withdrawn from the team," Australian director sportif Matthew Hayman said in a statement released by AusCycling on Friday. said in a statement.

"While we would have preferred him to be part of the team, we fully respect and support his decision and the eight-rider ARA Australia Cycling team can support our high ambitions at the World Championships.

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