Olympic silver medallist Daria Pikulik has apologised after she was stripped of her results over an 18-month period due to an anti-doping rule violation.
The Polish rider, who most recently rode for Human Powered Health, committed three whereabouts failures, according to the International Testing Agency (ITA), with Pikulik confirming on social media that this was due to missed tests.
The 29-year-old finished second in the omnium at the Paris Olympics in 2024, behind Jennifer Valente of the USA, four years after she had taken a bronze medal in the same event at the 2020 UCI Track World Championships. In 2023, she won the Tour of Guangxi and a stage of the Tour Down Under, before she finished third at the European Championships road race in 2024.
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Her period of ineligibility has been set from 9 December 2024 to 8 June 2026, meaning all results within that time have been disqualified. Pikulik has not raced since March, and only finished three races in 2025, so the punishment is not a severe one. The ITA handles anti-doping for cycling’s governing body, the UCI.
Whereabouts is the name of the anti-doping system used by the ITA and UCI for out-of-competition testing, with details of where a rider will be; they have to give a daily window for where they will be available for testing.
The statement reads: “The ITA reports that rider Daria Pikulik has agreed to the consequences for her ADRV under article 2.4 of the UCI anti-doping rules.
“Daria Pikulik committed three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period. The rider did not challenge the ADRV and agreed with the consequences proposed by the ITA. Accordingly, the case was resolved via an acceptance of consequences.
“In accordance with article 10.13.1 of the UCI anti-doping rules, the rider’s period of ineligibility is from 9 December 2024 until 8 June 2026. Additionally, all the rider’s competitive results within this period are disqualified including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes.”
In a post on Instagram in Polish, Pikulik wrote: “Many questions remain, and I must face them head-on. I’d like to explain why you haven’t seen me racing since March. I was suspended for failing to report for three doping tests.
“This happened to me twice, in September 2023 and October 2023. Realising the seriousness of the situation, I tried to systematically complete my residence data in the system, but due to my oversight and a much greater workload, it happened a third time in September 2024.
“I spent the last two years trying to defend my good name, and ultimately CAS issued a judgment in March 2026 without a penalty, finding me guilty of omitting an inspection.
“In September, I was finally suspended from December 2024 to June 2026. It was a terribly difficult time for me and my loved ones. It was never my intention to violate anti-doping rules.
“Throughout my career, I have passed dozens of doping controls without any problems.
“However, I need to accept what happened and put it behind me. I apologise to everyone I’ve let down and thank everyone who has been with me through this time.”
Human Powered Health was contacted for comment.
