UCI Accuses Astarloza of Doping After His Stage 16 Win
After fending off the relentless Schleck brothers attacks then dropping everyone to solo to a massive victory on Stage 16 of the 2009 Tour de France, the UCI became suspicious.
And those suspicions proved founded after Euskaltel-Euskadi’s Spanish rider Mikel Astarloza tested positive for EPO, the UCI claims. Â He has been provisionally suspended, but he’ll likely appeal and has the right to be present for the testing of his “B” samples.
See how it all went down in our recap of Stage 16 here, and hit ‘more’ to see a video interview with Astarloza after Stage 16…
Comments
Cyclingnews is reporting that it was on June 26 that he failed the test.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-stage-winner-astarloza-suspended-after-failed-doping-test
WASTED TRUST AND SUPPORT FOR ASTARLOZA:
We’re so pissed Spaniard Mikel Astarloza tested positive today. His stage 16 in this years Tour de France was fantastic. A dream stage we would all love to win, and we cheered for him. That attack in the last 2k was just a lie. We wasted our support on him, wasted our trust. I hearby redirect that support and trust to the little French hero Sandy Cesar. Astarloza’s positive test came on June 26th, so we await with trepidation his dope test results for that day.
The only real victory here was for congratulations to the testers, who scored another victory against the cheats. Their out of competition test caught Astarloza preparing for the Tour de France on EPO. The fact is that we can’t get a July free from scandal is a simple disgrace.
His Euskaltal-Euskadi team claiming their second positive in a month - a filthy team?
When we asked the Euskaltal-Euskadi team’s press officer if Iñigo Landaluze was going to be suspended: “Of course he is” was the indignant reply. Like it was such a surprise. One rider caught, but two headline riders testing positive in a month? The team staff must be inclusive in the suspension of the riders. We want answers Mikel, honest answers, it’s what we all deserve.