2010 Vuelta a España runner up Ezequiel Mosquera looks set to lose that result plus face a continued lengthy period away from the sport with reports that he will be handed a two year ban. The former Xacobeo Galicia rider has already had over a year out of cycling; La Voz de Galicia now states that the Competition Committee of the Spanish Cycling Federation RFEC decided yesterday that he must remain out of competition until he has completed 24 months.
In October Spanish judge Carmen Victoria López Muñoz recommended a two year ban, and it appears that the RFEC has agreed with this.
Mosquera was tested on the penultimate day of the Vuelta after winning on the Bola del Mundo climb and sealing his second place overall behind Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas). Analysis of the sample revealed traces of hydroxyethyl starch, which can act as a masking agent for EPO.
His former team-mate David Garcia also tested positive for hydroxyethyl starch and it was subsequently determined that he had EPO in his system. Analysis of Mosquera’s samples were however unable to detect signs he had taken the substance, and so his disciplinary action was focussed solely on the masking agent.
His defence was that hydroxyethyl starch is banned only if injected. He claimed that he didn’t know how it got into his system and that it must have been consumed inadvertently in food; La Voz de Galicia reports that the RFEC is not satisfied with this explanation and he will be penalised.
Once the ruling is confirmed, Mosquera must appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if he wants to try to fight the ruling. Otherwise, he would be able to return to the sport towards the end of next season, although the scarcity of races at that time of the year means that he would not be able to get regular competition in until 2013.
By that time the rider will be 36 years of age, and therefore could be facing the end of his career.
He had been due to compete with the Vacansoleil team this year, and would therefore have been in the running to ride the Tour de France. The Dutch squad kept him on board pending a final ruling, but he never raced.