Colombian climber Miguel Angel López has insisted that he’s not responsible of utilizing banned substances and that he’ll enchantment to the Court of Arbitration of Sport in opposition to his four-year suspension from racing, the case for which he stated relies on an faulty interpretation of “manipulated telephone name transcripts.”
According to a UCI assertion on Wednesday, López was given a four-year ban, efficient from the date of his provisional suspension on July 25 2023, for “use and possession of a prohibited substance (Menotropin)” – a substance usually used within the therapy of fertility disturbances – “concomitantly with the 2022 Giro d’Italia.”
A former Vuelta a España and Tour de France stage winner and podium finisher in each the Giro and Vuelta, López has at all times insisted he’s harmless of any wrongdoing and he reacted forcefully to the information of the four-year ban.
Writing on Instagram, López claimed that the choice didn’t take note of current selections taken by the Spanish authorized authorities and by CAS. He additionally alleged, with out offering direct proof, that the ban was based mostly on the [incorrect] “interpretation of manipulated and biased telephone name transcripts.”
“The offence doesn’t exist, and the ban is unjustified,” López wrote. “I’ll enchantment instantly and I’ll defend my innocence, I hope to have the ability to return to the world of aggressive biking.”
The 30-year-old former Astana racer additionally thanked individuals for his or her ongoing help in the course of the investigation.
The UCI’s announcement of López ban said that “the disciplinary continuing was initiated following an investigation performed by the International Testing Agency (ITA) based mostly on proof obtained from the Spanish Guardia Civil and the Spanish Anti-Doping Organisation (CELAD) within the so-called Operation ‘Ilex’. The UCI welcomes this helpful collaboration.”
The UCI didn’t specify what proof had been obtained from Ilex, nor but the way it affected their investigation.
However, it added that what it calls the “operational actions of its anti-doping programme” have been run by the International Testing Agency (ITA) in January 2021, and identified that the ITA’s settlement with the UCI “ensures that the ITA operates in an unbiased method.”
In the unique assertion in regards to the ban the UCI added it might not remark additional on the suspension. Meanwhile, López has as much as a month to lodge his enchantment with CAS.
