Movistar rider banned for four years after doping offence

Movistar rider Jaime Rosón has been banned from racing for four years for a doping offence.

The team suspended the Spaniard in June after the UCI informed bosses that anti-doping tests had returned suspicious results.

Movistar’s parent company Abarca Sports confirmed on Friday (February 15) that Rosón’s contract had been immediately terminated after the UCI banned the 26-year-old for four years.

The UCI’s anti-doping tribunal found that Rosón had used an unnamed prohibited substance, with the decision being announced on Friday.

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A statement from the team said: “The Abarca Sports organisation received today an official communication from the UCI where it was notified of a four-year ban imposed on Jaime Rosón Garcia, due to an adverse analytical finding in his biological passport, dated January 2017.

“Abarca Sports has proceeded to terminate the contract linking Rosón to its team, a contract whose provisional suspension had already been previously put into effect.”

The team underlined the fact that the irregular values in Rosón’s passport were found a year before he joined the Spanish WorldTour team.

Rosón turned pro in 2014 with Team Ecuador before moving to Caja Rural-Seguros RGA the following year.

He joined Movistar at the start of the 2018 season.

Rosón has three pro wins to his name – the general classification at the 2018 Vuelta Aragon, and stages in the Tour of Croatia and the Tour of Turkey.

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He also finished in the top-10 of the Volta ao Algarve and Tireeno-Adriatico.

Movistar suspended Rosón indefinitely in June after the UCI informed the team of the finding.

The team said his behaviour, health analytics and biological passport values were “irreproachable” during his time with the team, but took the decision to suspend him while the matter was investigated.

On Friday, the UCI announced the its anti-doping tribunal had reached a decision in the case and banned Rosón for four years.

The biological passport is an electronic record the UCI holds for each rider, used to monitor any changes that may indirectly reveal doping.

A statement from the UCI said: “The anti-doping tribunal found the rider guilty of an anti-doping rule violation (use of a prohibited substance) based on abnormalities detected in his biological passport and imposed a four-year period of ineligibility on the rider.”