The International Cycling Union (UCI) has asked its licence commission to undertake a full review of the management and anti-doping policies of the Astana team after three recent cases involving its riders.
The Kazakhstan-based team has already been granted a licence for 2015, but could lose it or have conditions attached after two of its riders, brothers Maxim and Valentin Iglinskiy, tested positive for EPO while llya Davidenok was this week notified of an adverse analytical finding for anabolic androgenic steroids from a test taken at the Tour de l’Avenir in late August.
Davidenok has the right to request analysis of his ‘B’ sample but has been provisionally suspended.
The series of cases in quick succession has raised concerns about the team’s anti-doping practices, which will now come under review.
A UCI statement said: “The licence commission is the competent body for issuing, reviewing, withdrawing and attaching conditions to UCI WorldTour licences and ensuring that licence-holders continuously comply with the terms of the licence.
“As per the UCI regulations, it is expected that the team will appear before the licence commission within the next month for an assessment of the team’s level of compliance with the ethical criteria so that the appropriate measures can be then taken.
“It will be for the licence commission to determine whether and to what extent the team and/or its management is responsible for recent events. The UCI will not comment further at this stage.”
Astana's 2014 season was highlighted by Vincenzo Nibali winning the Tour de France. There has been no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of the Italian, who in an interview with newspaper La Repubblica during the summer described doping as "abhorrent".
