Roy Sentjens

Roy Sentjens (born 15 December 1980 in Neerpelt) is a retired Belgian road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2013. Sentjens has also previously competed for UCI ProTour team Team Milram. The highlight of his career was victory in the Belgian semi-classic Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne in 2003. Sentjens started his career with Rabobank in 2002, and transferred to Predictor-Lotto for the 2007 season. Sentjens held dual citizenship, from both Belgium and the Netherlands, and from 2002 until 2004 raced under a Dutch licence. However, in 2005, he changed to a Belgian licence as he felt more Belgian than Dutch.

Doping

On 8 September 2010, while he was riding the 2010 Vuelta a España, it was announced that Sentjens had failed an out of competition doping control and would be suspended from cycling. On 10 September, Sentjens admitted to having doped with EPO that he had obtained in Barcelona, Spain, and declined to request the testing of his B-sample. He also announced his immediate retirement from professional cycling. He later reversed his decision to retire, and returned to cycling when the ban had expired.

Speaking about his decision to dope, Sentjens explained on his personal website: "My season was already a disaster. I did everything I could but I didn’t meet up to my own expectations. I couldn’t sleep anymore, thinking all the time how in the hell I could still improve, I did everything. But even that did not help and I fell into a depression."

Major results