• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Astana?

Page 6 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Sounds like Lopez might have had some form of relationship with Prof. Marcos Maynar at some point and who was accused of doping athletes some years ago but as he's now being investigated for drug trafficking, somehow Lopez was linked and so stopped and searched at the airport, which would be standard practice for any passport number associated with the Court Case even if simply as a witness. Astana are racing him at Burgos and La Vuelta they say and is now unsuspended.
 
Wow.... Even US politicians are weighing in on the Lopez incident....

hGFNiTS.jpg
 
Michele Gazzoli popped for an AAF at Volta ao Algarve (in Portugal of all places), 1 year ban.

Man the UCI really doesn't like Astana.

Doesn't seem like it because he is very young, but is actually quite a big name to get popped.

Junior European Road race champion.

4th in u23 worlds last year as a teammate of Baroncini, racing on the same (always dodgy) colpack team as Ajuso and Baroncini. Small chance it could get interesting, probably not

But again its a small fish getting announced publicly
 
Just a young rider not checking on Global Dro buying a nasal spray in my opinion. To result in a non-intentional AAF decision, there has to be an identifiable source of the prohibited substance and as it's claimed for rhinitis, he probably has some medical evidence to support that too, otherwise he would have received the full sanction. Of course, that doesn't mean he didn't know what he was doing and purposely retained the receipt and found an ENT to fake his Rhinitus or the team Dr did, but if it was the team prescribing it, their Doctor would then have to provide his own medical traceability and justification for prescribing a prohibited substance in competition. Besides that, it would be available under TUE anyway if he just did a RAST test etc there and then at the race so no risk of AAF then anyway as a team Dr.
 
Wait... you're telling me that a guy who tested positive as a rider, then went on to manage Kelme in the early 2000s for several years, and whose son had a sudden breakout aged 31 before failing miserably once on a biopassport team and then tested positive for EPO, who is a cohort of a guy who had a brief career in the mid-2000s with LA-MSS before testing positive... might be suspect?!

The net is there. Maynar was doctor of Fassa Bortolo, moved to Kelme in 2004 where he would have obviously have worked with Belda Sr. Vázquez turned pro in Portugal in 2005, ending up at Maia where he tested positive in 2007, which is what you call "leaving early to avoid the rush". David is at that point on his father's Fuerteventura-Canarias team, gutted by Puerto. Maynar gets a 10 year ban for the LA-MSS bust in 2009.

Will be very interesting to see how quickly he got back in the fold. Belda Jr (the cyclist one) has his breakout in 2014.

The other names I'm seeing bandied about are Luís Vicente, a Portuguese pro from the early 2000s, and perhaps more interestingly Rúben Pereira, who has been a DS at Efapel (the one that is now Glassdrive) since 2012 - so this likely needs cross-post to the "Twilight Zone Called Portugal" thread as well.
 
Last edited:
Full statement, for those who can't access the website:

Astana Qazaqstan Team discovered new elements showing Miguel Angel Lopez’ probable connection with Dr Marcos Maynar. Accordingly, the team had no other solution than to end the contract between team and rider, based on breaches of said contract and internal team rules, with immediate effect.

To preserve the rights of the team and the rider no further comments will be made.
 
Wait, Vino, the possibly monument buyer‘s team, the team that was excluded from the 2008 Tour, Comeback Armstrong‘s team, the team that let Alberto eat a steak, the Iglinskiy brother‘s team, the one excluded from the MPCC, the team with a suspension earlier this year, an organization often considered corrupt is having doping troubles? Seriously, how is this team still at the top level?
How is Vinokourov still in the sport?
How is any of this happening?
 
Team Medellin is always an option. I think he'd rather take exile back home like Rujano or Betancur than go to Portugal where they're often on the Spanish calendar. Maybe Savio can get him while he's coming cheap and try and bargain that into some extra money to get back to ProConti. That used to be Savio's modus operandi before the number of caught dopers slowed to a trickle.

Worst comes to the worst, there's always that new Turkish team that Darwin Atapuma and Natnael Berhane signed for, or the Asia Tour, especially if teams like Ningxia Sports Lottery and Shenzhen Xidesheng are recruiting again after the relaxation of Xi's zero Covid restrictions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: StryderHells
Wait, Vino, the possibly monument buyer‘s team, the team that was excluded from the 2008 Tour, Comeback Armstrong‘s team, the team that let Alberto eat a steak, the Iglinskiy brother‘s team, the one excluded from the MPCC, the team with a suspension earlier this year, an organization often considered corrupt is having doping troubles? Seriously, how is this team still at the top level?
How is Vinokourov still in the sport?
How is any of this happening?
It's fun and the sport needs a villain team.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rico044 and noob

TRENDING THREADS