Xacobeo-Galicia investigated by Spanish police
The Spanish authorities have officially launched an investigation into the practices of local Pro Continental team Xacobeo-Galicia, which disbanded as of the beginning of October due the failure to secure funding and the surfacing
of a number of doping scandals within the team.
Former team doctor Juan Manuel Rodríguez Bastida confirmed that he has been questioned by the police.
The doctor was fired from the team during the 2009 Vuelta a Espana and replaced by Alberto Beltran, who was later fired when he fell under investigation by the Italian authorities. Bastida launched legal action again against Xacobeo
for wrongful termination and accused the team manager Alvaro Pino of replacing him with a doctor who was willing to help the riders dope.
"I am a victim for not permitting doping practices,"said Bastida. "They threw me out of the team and replaced me with a doper who had been arrested in Italy for possessing banned products, who was known by everyone for his murky past
and had to flee from our country."
At this year’s Vuelta a Espana, David Garcia and Ezequiel Mosquera both tested positive for the use of hydroxyethyl starch (HES), a substance which is used to mask boosters in blood, including EPO.
"It’s basically a masking agent," said doping specialist Dr. Conor McGrane. "The substance isn’t banned, but they only way you can take it is through intravenous transfusion, and that is banned."
Because the substance itself is not banned, Mosquera continues to race while under investigation. Garcia however, was found positive for EPO after further testing and has been suspended from competition.
"It is not a doping substance," said Mosquera, maintaining his innocence. "I am not suspended, they told me if I wanted to, I could ride the Giro di Lombardia."
The doping scandals, and Bastida’s accusation that the team manager was "...only able to understand cycling with doping" has sparked the ongoing Spanish investigation into Xacobeo-Galicia, the details of which are yet to be released.
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