The International Cycling Union (UCI) announced on Wednesday that its Anti-Doping Court had convicted Miguel ÁngelSuperman, López to a sanction of four years of suspension (from July 25, 2023, the date on which his provisional sanction began, to July 24, 2027) for possession and use during the first days of the 2022 Giro d’Italia of the substance menotropin (or HMG Lepori, human menopausal gonadotropin), a hormone indicated for female fertility problems and prohibited in sports due to its anabolic effects. The decision can be appealed before the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).
“As a reminder, the disciplinary procedure began following an investigation carried out by the International Testing Agency (ITA) based on evidence obtained from the Spanish Civil Guard and the Spanish Anti-Doping Organization (CELAD) in the so-called Operation Ilex, regarding Dr. Marcos Maynar,” states the international federation in the official statement in which it makes the sanction public. “The UCI is pleased with this valuable collaboration.”
One of the chapters of Operation Ílex, carried out by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard for several months, consists of the transcription of the WhatsApp conversations between Maynar, the former Alicante director Vicente Belda, already involved in the Operación Puerto, and his son Vicente, a masseuse at Astana, Superman’s team, in the spring of 2022, the days before the start of the Budapest Giro. They reflect the sending by Maynar of some vials of menotropin to Vicente Belda Jr., from Cáceres to his home in Cocentaina, Alicante, with the request that he transport them with him to Budapest to inject them into the runner on May 4, before the first stage of the corsican pink. The Civil Guard intercepted the shipment to verify that it really consisted of the prohibited vials announced by Maynar and then gave it free rein to reach its recipient. In a subsequent interrogation, Belda Jr. admitted having received them, but insisted before the Civil Guard that he had thrown them in the trash because he was afraid of crossing half of Europe with them. However, subsequent exchanges of messages between Belda and Maynar confirmed that they had been injected into the cyclist, but with such a bad effect that they had left him practically lame. For this reason, Superman retired as soon as the fourth stage of the Giro began, ending at the top of the Etna volcano.
The accusation in the sanctioning procedure has been carried out by the International Testing Agency (ITA), an international organization created by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and which oversees the anti-doping fight of several international federations. Those responsible relied on the evidence obtained by the UCO in its investigation.
The second part of the story, the trial for the alleged criminal offense of doping committed by Maynar, Belda father and son and other defendants, but not Superman (according to Spanish criminal law, the athlete, the consumer, is always a victim of doping, not author), is waiting for the judge of Court number 4 of Cáceres, Aida de la Cruz, to attend to the indictments of the Prosecutor’s Office and the State attorney’s office, and prosecute those investigated in an oral trial in which The Prosecutor’s Office intends to call as a witness Superman, the phenomenon of Pesca, Boyacá, and one of the best Colombian cyclists of the century, winner of the 2019 Volta a Catalunya and the 2016 Tour de Suisse, and of great mountain stages in the Tour and the Vuelta, as well as third place in the 2018 Vuelta and Giro.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
#Superman #López #suspended #years #doping