Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (born 26 December 1984) is a British former professional

road racing Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a race track, closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily c ...

cyclist who last raced for

UCI ProTeam UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer In ...

Team Sky Ineos Grenadiers () (stylised as INEOS Grenadiers) (formerly Team Sky from 2010 to 2019, and Team Ineos from 2019 to 2020) is a British professional cycling team that competes at the UCI WorldTeam level. The team is based at the National Cyclin ...

in 2013. Tiernan-Locke's major breakthrough came from winning four stage races during the

2012 UCI Europe Tour The 2012 UCI Europe Tour was the eighth season of the UCI Europe Tour. The 2012 season began on 29 January 2012 with the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise Grand Prix Cycliste La Marseillaise, formerly known as the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La ...

, including the

Tour of Britain The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after th ...

, while riding for . In 2014, his 2012 Tour of Britain win was stripped following the identification of anomalies in his

biological passport An athlete biological passport is an individual electronic record for professional athletes, in which profiles of biological markers of doping and results of doping tests are collated over a period of time. Doping violations can be detected by ...

data from around the time of that race, and he was banned from competition until the end of 2015.

Amateur career

Tiernan-Locke started

mountain bike racing Mountain bike racing (shortened MTB or ATB racing) is the competitive cycle sport discipline of mountain biking held on off-road terrain. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) recognised the discipline relatively late in 1990, when it sanctione ...

at the age of 15 before taking up

in 2003 when he was 18. He progressed rapidly from 4th Category to 1st Category in a matter of months and for 2004 was offered the chance to ride for the French Amateur team U.V. Aube. Within 18 months he was selected for the British U23 National team, competing in the Under-23 road race at the

2004 UCI Road World Championships The 2004 UCI Road World Championships took place in Verona, Italy, between 27 September and 3 October 2004. The event consisted of a road race and a time trial for men, women, men under 23, junior men and junior women. Events summary ...

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, Italy, and joined the French team CC Étupes for 2005. His impact was immediate, with a win in GP de Rocheville, and

podium A podium (: podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of a ...

s on all ten of his first ten races. Months later his health deteriorated and he was diagnosed with

Epstein–Barr virus The Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), also known as human herpesvirus 4 (HHV-4), is one of the nine known Herpesviridae#Human herpesvirus types, human herpesvirus types in the Herpesviridae, herpes family, and is one of the most common viruses in ...

. Forced to stop racing altogether, he spent the next three years studying for a degree in

product design Product design is the process of creating new Product (business), products for businesses to sell to their customers. It involves the generation and development of ideas through a systematic process that leads to the creation of innovative products ...

at the

University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a Public university, public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, UK. With more than 39,912 students and 4,300 staff, it is the largest provider of hi ...

, but did not graduate. After recovering his health he started racing again in 2008 but his season was once more disrupted after he was knocked off his bike by a horse while competing in a Surrey League race and suffered injuries including a broken collarbone and nose. In 2009 he finally got the chance to return to the pro ranks with the Plowman Craven-Madison team, but once again misfortune struck as the team folded mid season and Jonathan returned to working in a bike shop.

Professional career

2011: Rapha Condor-Sharp

In 2010 he was offered the opportunity to ride with for the 2011 season. He won the

mountains classification The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing, Queen of the Mountains (QoM) is used. While the title may be given to the rider who achieves the highest p ...

and finished fifth in the

general classification The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulati ...

in the

2012: Endura Racing

Tiernan-Locke moved to for the 2012 season. At the start of the year he won the

Tour Méditerranéen Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

, and the

Tour du Haut Var The Tour des Alpes-Maritimes, formerly known as the Tour du Haut Var, () is an early-season two-day road bicycle race in the Var department region in the south of France. Until 2008 it was run as a one-day race, part of the UCI Europe Tour. In 20 ...

, with those results gaining him the lead of the

UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and ove ...

. Tiernan-Locke later placed second to 's

Nairo Quintana Nairo Alexánder Quintana Rojas, Order of Boyacá, ODB, (born 4 February 1990) is a Colombian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Nicknamed "Nairoman" and "El Cóndor de los Andes", Quintana is a specialist climber, known fo ...

in the

Vuelta a Murcia The Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia () is a road bicycle race held in and around Murcia, Spain. The first four editions were reserved to amateurs. Originally the race was held in early March and consisted of five stages. However, due to Spain's fina ...

. He suffered a fractured collarbone at the Lincoln Grand Prix in May, but returned to cycling at June's

Route du Sud The Route d'Occitanie is a road bicycle race with 4 stages held annually in Southern France. It was first held in 1977 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It is usually held a week before the Tour de France ...

, finishing 22nd overall. In July he won the

Tour Alsace The Tour Alsace (or Tour d'Alsace) is a five-day road bicycle race held annually in Alsace, France. It was first held in 2004 and it is a 2.2 rated event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing co ...

overall as well as two stages during the event. Tiernan-Locke led Endura at his home race, the

. He finished second on stage six, to

Caerphilly mountain Caerphilly Mountain () lies between Cardiff and Caerphilly at the southern edge of the South Wales Coalfield. Its summit is above sea-level. Since 1957 there had been a small wooden snack bar near to the summit. In September 2011 this was repl ...

, to take the lead of the race. He held the lead until the end of the race, becoming the first British rider to win a British cycling tour since 1993. Tiernan-Locke represented Great Britain at the road world championships finishing 19th. He further enhanced his reputation by staying in contention with the world class field until the final climb. On 4 October 2012, it was announced that Tiernan-Locke would join

on a two-year contract from the 2013 season onwards.

2013–2014: Team Sky

Tiernan-Locke withdrew from the road world championships on 29 September 2013 because of a potential discrepancy in his biological passport data. He was suspended from racing for Team Sky or taking part in any training activities until he had faced an anti-doping hearing. In July 2014, his ban was announced by the UCI, banning him until 31 December 2015 and stripping his 2012 Tour of Britain and World Championship results. Team Sky immediately terminated his contract. In August 2014,

UK Anti-Doping UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) is the organisation responsible for protecting sport in the United Kingdom from doping. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and is structured as a company limited by guarant ...

upheld the ban, accepting Tiernan-Locke's claim that he had indulged in

binge drinking Binge drinking, or heavy episodic drinking, is drinking alcoholic beverages with an intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time, but definitions vary considerably. Binge drinking is a style of ...

two days before the positive test but rejecting his contention that he had not rehydrated by the time of the test, given that he was tested on the eve of the 2012 World Championship road race, where he finished 19th. Tiernan-Locke subsequently expressed an interest in returning to professional cycling after the end of his ban.

2016: return to competition

In January 2016, following the end of his ban, Tiernan-Locke indicated that he would return to racing as an independent, rather than with a team. He subsequently expressed dissatisfaction with being awarded a second-category racing licence for his return to competition, after having raced with an elite-level licence from 2003 until his ban. Tiernan-Locke later confirmed that he would ride for the Saint Piran team, which he had co-founded. He finished second on his return to racing in the Primavera Road Race in February 2016, and subsequently won the Modbury Spring Road Race in March. In April 2016, he told ''

Cycling Weekly ''Cycling Weekly'' is the world's oldest cycling publication. It is both a weekly cycling magazine and a news, features and buying advice website. It is published by Future plc, Future. It used to be affectionately referred to by British club c ...

'' that "I'm realistic that it's a hobby these days, I'm getting by on 10 hours a week training. Realistically, I'm riding at a good level and I'm happy with that".

Major results

;2005 : 1st GP de Rocheville : 3rd Des Boucles Catalanes ;2008 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Totnes–Vire ::1st Stage 3 ;2009 : 6th Severn Bridge Road Race ;2010 : 5th Overall

FBD Insurance Ras FBD may refer to: Science and technology * Flange back distance, in mounting camera lenses * Free body diagram, helps visualise forces on bodies * Fully Buffered DIMM, computer memory module * Function block diagram, a graphical language for pr ...

:: 1st Stage 5 ;2011 : 2nd Overall

Vuelta Ciclista a León Vuelta Ciclista a León, also known as La Vuelta León, is a former road bicycle race held annually in the province of Province of León, León in Spain. From 2005 until 2013 it was organised as a 2.2 event on the professional UCI Europe Tour. The ...

::1st

Mountains classification ::1st Stage 4 : 1st Ryedale Grand Prix : 2nd Jock Wadley Memorial : 4th Overall

Tour de Korea The Tour de Korea is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in South Korea since 2000 as part of the UCI Asia Tour. It was rated by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a 2.2 category race between 2005 and 2013, then promot ...

: 5th Overall

::1st

Mountains classification : 8th Overall Tour of South Africa : 8th East Yorkshire Classic ;2012 : 1st Jersey whiteyellow

Overall

::1st

Points classification ::1st Jersey whitered

Mountains classification ::1st Stages 2 & 4 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

::1st

Points classification ::1st Stages 1 & 4 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

::1st

Points classification ::1st Stage 2 : 1st Overall
Tour of Britain The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after th ...
: 2nd Overall

: 3rd Overall

: 6th Overall

Personal life

On 24 April 2015 Tiernan-Locke was arrested and charged for drunk driving. Analysis of a blood sample found 204 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. He was sentenced at a magistrates court to a 17-month driving ban.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiernan-Locke, Jonathan 1984 births Living people English male cyclists British male cyclists Doping cases in cycling English sportspeople in doping cases Alumni of the University of Bristol Sportspeople from Plymouth, Devon 21st-century English sportsmen