Maxim Iglinskiy, after helping Astana team-mate Vincenzo Nibali win the Tour de France, tested positive for banned blood booster EPO. The Kazakh failed a test a day before the Clásica San Sebastián, on August 1, 10 days before his younger brother Valentin failed an anti-doping test for the same substance.
Cycling's governing body, the UCI, did not announce the result, but following its new policy, updated its Provisionally Suspended list last night with Iglinskiy's name. His 30-year-old brother Valentin refused a counter-analysis and admitted to the team he doped after the UCI listed his name on September 10.
Iglinskiy, 33, enjoyed the most success of the two. He won the 2012 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the 2010 Strade Bianche and stages in the Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de Romandie. Team Astana valued him enough to field him at the Tour in support of Nibali. Nibali won and Iglinskiy placed 129th.
After the Clásica San Sebastián, where he placed 26th, he continued through the GP de Fourmies on September 7. Depending what happens next, the GP de Fourmies could prove to be his last race.
"All Astana Pro Team riders are contractually obliged to respect strict ethical rules and regulations," said Astana's general manager, Alexandre Vinokourov.
"We will not tolerate any indulgences. I am very disappointed and angered that this rider could not have understood the basis of our rules and the importance of our ethics. It is especially unacceptable on the part of a Kazakh rider who stands for the image of our team and the image of our country."
Team Astana may have to stop racing for eight days and miss the Giro di Lombardia, October 5, and the Tour or Beijing, October 10 to 14.
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The team is one of 11 WorldTour teams that voluntary signed up for and follow the stricter anti-doping rules of the Movement for a Credible Cycling (MPCC). One of the rules requires a team to stop for eight days from the next WorldTour race, in this case Lombardia, if it has two positive cases in a 12-month period.
Seven WorldTour teams – Sky, BMC, Trek, Movistar, Cannondale, Tinkoff-Saxo and Omega Pharma-Quick Step – are not MPCC members.
