Astana “temporarily” reinstated Miguel Angel López after Spanish authorities and the International Cycling Union found no evidence linking the Colombian to a drug trafficking case involving Dr. Marcos Mainar.
In a statement, the Kazakh team explains that “in the absence of any guidance from the Spanish authorities or the UCI” it is “not in a position to extend the suspension or continue to deprive the rider of his contractual rights.” .
“Therefore, Miguel Angel Lopez has been temporarily reinstated to the Astana team and will return to his previously scheduled race plan (return to Burgos and then to the Vuelta a España),” the note reads.
Astana promises to continue to “monitor the situation closely” and guarantees that “it will not hesitate to take decisive action as the situation develops.”
On July 22, the Kazakh team decided to suspend 28-year-old Miguel Angel López with immediate effect after it became known that he was involved in a drug trafficking case led by Spanish doctor Marcos Mainar.
“The news that was circulated in the media yesterday [quinta-feira] they took us by surprise at night and at the moment we don’t have any details. In this sense, the team decided to remove Miguel Angel Lopez from his activities as a whole until all the circumstances of the case are clarified, ”the official Astana account on the Twitter social network says about this.
Sources close to the investigation confirmed to Efe that day that “Superman” López, who was out of competition after falling in the fourth stage of the Vuelta Italia, was interrogated by the Spanish Civil Guard in the context of “Operation Ilex” for drugs. trade.
In May, the Civil Guard detained Marcos Mainar, a former doctor for the Portuguese cycling team LA-MSS, in Cáceres on suspicion of a drug-related crime. .
Mainar, currently a professor at the University of Extremadura, was arrested in 2004 in an operation to crack down on doping in gyms.
Five years later, he was suspended for 10 years by the Portuguese Cycling Federation “for prescribing and/or supplying banned and masking substances to certain cyclists during the 2008 sports season” from LA-MSS.
In 2015, the doctor was one of six defendants in a doping case against rowers from the Urdaibai club and was acquitted at trial.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
