Euskaltel Euskadi rider faces disciplinary hearing before Russian Cycling Federation
Officially announcing the rider’s suspension after Alexander Serebryakov’s Euskaltel Euskadi team said that it had fired him for testing positive for an unspecified substance, the UCI has stated that the test in question was for EPO.
The news of Serebraykov’s positive was made public by the team on Saturday, but it didn’t name the substance. The Russian rider also avoided mentioning it in a statement by him printed on the Biciciclismo website.
“I want to make it clear that the team has nothing to do with this situation, and that it is a personal problem that I will try to clarify in the next few days,” he stated.
The UCI has now filled in the gap via its website. “The decision to provisionally suspend this rider was made in response to a report from the WADA accredited laboratory in Köln indicating an Adverse Analytical Finding of EPO in a urine sample collected from him in an out of competition test on 18th March 2013,” it stated.
“The provisional suspension of Mr. Alexander Serebryakov remains in force until a hearing panel convened by the Russian Cycling Federation determines whether he has committed an anti-doping rule violation under Article 21 of the UCI Anti-Doping Rules.”
It added that he has the right to attend the analysis of his B sample. However, given the tone of his statement, it is not clear if Serebryakov will contest the charges. He is yet to provide the clarification he mentioned in his statement on Saturday.
Serebryakov had been due to ride Paris-Roubaix with the Euskaltel Euskadi team, which he joined after a successful season with Team Type 1 last year.
The-then first year pro was the winner of the TD Bank Philadelphia International Championship, as well as ten other races. He clocked up stage wins in the Tours of Korea, China and Hainan plus the Tour of Taihu Lake, and his points helped secure Euskaltel’s WorldTour licence.