The former Irish champion has been hit with a six-month ban after being found to have had excessive levels of Norandrosterone in a urine sample taken during the Tour of Austria in June.

The Belfastman said he was "at a complete loss" as to how the substance had got into his system.

The positive reading was 8.6 nanograms/ml which is above the 5ng/ml Norandrosterone limit set by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).

"I've never taken any banned substance," said McCann.

"It's grossly unfair that no-one can tell me where this came from.

"But the rules state that I'm responsible for what is in my system - no matter where it came from".

McCann has the option of appealing the suspension but he says that this is unlikely because of the costs involved.

"Some athletes have been able to hire expensive lawyers and get their suspensions overturned but I don't have the money to do that," he said.

The rider insists he will continue in the sport.

His Austrian Volksbank Ideal team have already said that they want McCann to compete for them again after his ban expires on 29 May.

Minimum ban

"It's good to have that support behind me and I've also been told that I'll be able to ride for the Irish national team again once the ban ends.

"There's no reason why I can't put this behind me and come back stronger than before," added McCann.

The Belfastman took some consolation from the fact that he received the minimum ban for a drugs offence.

"With a finding of intentional doping, they wouldn't have been able to give me that length of ban.

"I think the authorities sort of understood that I didn't mean to take anything".