Former Tour de France white jersey tests non-negative in Colombia
Spanish rider Oscar Sevilla has been provisionally suspended by the International Cycling Union (UCI) after returning an Adverse Analytical Finding for the banned substance Hydroxyethyl at last month’s Vuelta a Colombia. The result was returned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited lab in Bogota, Colombia, on a sample collected on August 15th, the last day of the race.
Unable to find a team after the collapse of Rock Racing, where he had ridden for two years, Sevilla has been riding for the small South American team Indeportes Antioquia-Gobernación de Antioquia. He won the Vuelta Mexico in April, then finished second in the Vuelta a Colombia, where he returned the non-negative sample.
This is not Sevilla’s first brush with doping scandal, as he was one of the riders named in the documents from Operación Puerto as a client of controversial doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. He was removed from the Tour de France team, and then fired by the T-Mobile team, for whom he rode at the time, but has not as yet been sanctioned. He later signed for Spanish Professional Continental team Relax-Gam, before riding for Rock Racing in the United States for two years.
Sevilla has the right to have the B-sample analysed, and his suspension remains provisional until it is confirmed by the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC).