Agence Française de Lutte contre le Dopage (AFLD) has filed an appeal with the French Council of State (Conseil d'Etat) against the sanctioning committee's decision to impose a two-year doping suspension on Marion Cicotte. According to Cyclingnews, the AFLD and the reporting judge are demanding that Cicotte receive a full four-year ban for returning a positive test for EPO in 2019.

Cicotte tested positive for EPO in a test conducted by the AFLD during a time trial competition at the French Championships on June 27, 2019. She was provisionally suspended on July 18, 2019. She initially denied using EPO, but later admitted to purchasing (opens in new tab) and using the banned substance in an exclusive Stade 2 interview broadcast in March 2020.

Sico claimed that her decision to purchase and use EPO (opens in new tab) was made after experiencing months of psychological abuse by Marc Bracke, the former team manager of Dolcini Van Eyck, and asked the French anti-doping authorities to reduce her suspension He later asked the French anti-doping authorities to reduce his suspension. The UCI Disciplinary Commission later imposed a three-year suspension (open in new tab) on Bracke following a highly publicized sexual harassment incident (open in new tab) involving two female cyclists.

The AFLD sanctioning committee stated that it took the harassment incident into account when it decided to suspend Cicotte for two years instead of four. This announcement was made on December 16, 2020. Sico's lawyer said at the time that the decision "shows that we understand the context in which the doping behavior occurred, while punishing the athlete who made the mistake." Sico's suspension would have ended on July 19, 2021.

However, in March 2021, the AFLD appealed the sanctioning committee's decision to the French Council of State. Under Article L 232-23-3-3 of the Sports Code (open in new tab), the AFLD demanded that Cicotte be suspended for four years for using the non-specific substance EPO.

It also suggested that there was insufficient reason for the Sanctioning Committee to use Article 232-23-3-10 of the Rules of Sport and Competition to reduce the penalty in light of "the particular circumstances of the case." It suggested that there was no established link between the sexual harassment and the taking of EPO, which was used to justify the reduction of the sanction.

The French Administrative Court is currently deciding whether to uphold Cicotte's initial reduced two-year suspension or sentence him to a full four-year sentence, one year longer than Bracke's suspension.

Last July, Sico, hoping to be free to return to competition, had begun training to compete in triathlons. The cycling club Chateauneuf-sur-Loire launched a petition (opens in new tab) titled "Support for Marion Sico," which as of Wednesday, March 9, has collected over 700 signatures. Christian Passigny, the club's president, said, "[Marion Sico] wanted to get out of there.