David Garcia confirmed for EPO
David Garcia is one of the three Spanish riders who were named on Thursday as having tested positive for a banned substance. The UCI confirmed on Wednesday that a second test had returned positive for EPO.
“This Adverse Analytical Finding for EPO follows the Adverse Analytical Finding for Hydroxyethyl Starch in the urine sample collected on September 16 at the same race,” stated the report released by the UCI.
Garcia and his Xacobeo-Galicia teammate Ezequiel Mosquera, who was runner-up in the Vuelta a Espana, tested positive for Hydroxyethyl starch (HES), which in itself does not warrant a suspension for the UCI, but strongly suggests that the riders have been
using blood-booster EPO, which HES effectively masks.
“If a cyclist had a blood transfusion or took EPO, that would cause the hematocrit to go up,” explained Irish doctor Conor McGrane. “By using the Hydroxyethyl, it would keep the extra blood cells, but your blood would be diluted, so it would look more normal.
It’s basically a masking agent. The substance isn’t banned, but the only way you can take it is through intravenous transfusion, and that is banned.”
On Wednesday, October 6, it was further confirmed that Garcia has also failed a test for EPO and had been suspended by the UCI, while the case goes to the Spanish cycling federation. The Spanish cycling federation could clear his name, but it’s likely only
if the B-samples for both tests (EPO-positive and HES-positive) are proven to be clean.
“The decision to provisionally suspend this rider was made in response to a report from the WADA-accredited laboratory in Madrid, indicating an Adverse Analytical Finding of EPO in a urine sample collected from him at an in-competition test at the Vuelta
a España on September 13, 2010.”
No further results from Ezequiel Mosquera have been returned.
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