Silence-Lotto is on the lookout for a new team doctor for upcoming season after Daniel De Neve announced his retirement. The Belgian formation is considering the Spaniard José Ibarguren, current team doctor for Fuij-Servetto, who formerly worked with Euskaltel-Euskadi and Saunier Duval, the team haunted by a doping past of riders Iban Mayo, Leonardo Piepoli and Riccardo Riccò.
“I heard that Ibarguren wanted to leave Fuji,” explained team manager Marc Sergeant to Het Laatste Nieuws. “We are searching for an experienced doctor and he seemed like a good candidate. I have talked with him about his past and told him that if just one person from the team thinks that we might have problems that the deal will not go through,” he said.
The Belgian team has had enough doping related problems in the past. Sergeant is fully aware of this, “We have learned our lesson. I admit that the transfers with Bernhard Kohl and Thomas Dekker were quite unfortunate. I don’t want that misery anymore.”
Sergeant's testing of the waters about Ibarguren shows that progress is being made in the fight against doping in the sport. Once entities in cycling begin to see how the association with individuals related to doping activities can damage their image, as is the case here with Ibarguren, the clearer the anti-doping message will be at all levels of the sport.