Omega Pharma-QuickStep doctor summoned to Mantova hearing

According to reports in La Gazzetta Dello Sport, Dr Jose Ibarguren Taus, one of five physicians working this year's Omega Pharma-QuickStep team- has been summoned to an Italian hearing this July to answer questions over his alleged involvement in the Mantova doping scandal.

Ibarguren has a long history in the sport, having worked in the past with Omega Pharma-Lotto, Fuji-Servetto/Saunier Duval and other professional teams dating back to Festina.

The Spaniard from the Basque Country faces charges relating to his involvement with Italian pharmacist Guido Nigrelli, who is suspected of providing products used to dope Fuji-Servetto riders under Ibarguren Taus' care. The Italian newspaper has printed a transcript that is said to relate to a conversation between the two men, which suggests that Ibarguren Taus asked to be provided with substances to use on his riders.

According to the newspaper, the court summons states that the two men "between them procured, administered or in any case favoured the use of substances not justified by pathological condition, towards the ends of altering the performances of athletes on the Fuji-Servetto professional cycling team, or otherwise to modify the ant-doping controls by the use of pharmaceuticals, and among these, substances containing testosterone: in Mariana Mantova and elsewhere up to the end of 30 April 2009."

In total the far-reaching case has named some 32 suspects including big-name riders Alessandro Ballan and Damiano Cunego, who were both riding for Lampre-ISD at the time.

Ibarguren Taus and Nigrelli are due to appear at the hearing on July 13.