Xacobeo calls it quits amidst scandal
The historic team Xacobeo-Galicia is calling it quits, the Fundación Ciclismo Gallego announced Friday. Like Bbox Bouygues-Telecom, the Galician team has been searching desperately for a new sponsor for the 2011 season, but the recent
doping scandal concerning top Xacobeo riders David Garcia and Vuelta a Espana runner-up Ezequiel Mosquera has been the final nail in the team’s coffin.
Alberto Contador isn’t the only Spaniard facing a possible banning. Both riders were tested during the Spanish Grand Tour and on Thursday the tested were announced to have returned positive for hydroxyethyl starch.
“If a cyclist had a blood transfusion or took EPO, that would cause the hematocrit to go up,” explained the Medical Officer for Cycling Ireland, Dr. 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 they only way you can take it is through intravenous transfusion and that is banned.”
The two Xacobeo riders now join fellow Spaniard Oscar Sevilla in the curious legal situation of having been caught using a substance that is not technically banned, but strongly suggests the use of blood boosters. None of the three riders can be suspended
by the UCI unless their B-samples return the same result. If they are suspended, the Spanish Cycling Federation can take legal action, but the use of a blood booster may be difficult to prove.
"At the moment I can ride, because I am not punished,” said Sevilla. “There can be no direct doping case, as with a forbidden substance, since hydroxyethyl is not on the banned list."
Mosquera and Garcia continue to maintain their innocence. Both riders have claimed to never have heard of the substance. Xacobeo has said it will stand by the riders’ innocence until guilt is proven. Team Vacansoleil, however, with whom Mosquera had signed
a contract for the 2011 season, is considering cancelling the contract.
"We have a zero tolerance policy with regard to doping, so all the facts have to be clear," said Vacansoleil manager Daan Luijckx. "The contract with Mosquera will take effect only on January 1, 2011, but this contract is now under
question."
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