The Spanish press is reporting that after the positive doping control of Euskaltel-Euskadi’s Mikel Astarloza, the future of the team is in serious doubt.
Fifteen years after the team was founded by Miguel Madariaga, the team, which is funded in part by public funds from the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, may pull their sponsorship for the 2010 season.
Several of Euskaltel-Euskadi’s riders were implicated in the infamous Operación Puerto scandal, with many of the named testing positive for performance enhancing drugs in recent years. Notable riders such as Astarloza, Aitor Gonzalez, David Etxeberria, Iban Mayo, Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano and Iñigo Landaluze, among others, have all had their run-ins with the anti-doping authorities, while also having ties to the Basque team.
This last positive result involving Astarloza has the potential derail the team permanently.