Spanish team Movistar has claimed that it was only made aware of the anti-doping case against Oier Lazkano on Thursday, and that he had passed all internal doping tests during his time with the squad.
The announcement comes after the UCI confirmed a provisional suspension for Lazkano, after detecting abnormal results in his ABP (Athlete Biological Passport) in 2022, 2023 and 2024, the three years he was contracted by the team.
Lazkano left Movistar at the end of the 2024 season and was contracted to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe in 2025.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe also announced on Thursday that they had ended the Spaniard's contract, though they distanced themselves from the case, highlighting that the abnormal values were all recorded whilst he was with a different team.
The way the ABP works is by recording athletes' blood values over time to establish base levels and then highlight any unusual or anomalous results, which is why the abnormalities may not have been understood until this year.
The ABP system can detect signs of blood doping, anabolic steroids, testosterone and human growth hormone, though the UCI has not specified what kind of abnormalities Lazkano showed.
Lazkano has not raced since April and had largely disappeared from the public eye, with the decision on his case by a panel decided on October 23. Lazkano was able to provide an explanation and evidence in his defence before the decision was taken.
Despite the fact that the case has likely been taking place in the background for some time, Movistar released a statement on Friday claiming that they had only been made aware of the situation on Thursday, via a notification from the UCI.
“At this stage and until this notification, the UCI had to keep the matter confidential beyond the Anti-Doping Organizations as per the applicable regulations," the letter from the UCI said, according to Movistar.
The team then went on to deny any prior knowledge of the abnormalities in Lazkano's ABP, and underlined that their own internal tests had not shown any issues.
"First of all, that it is not until yesterday afternoon, October 30, 2025, that [Movistar] has become aware of this situation," the team said.
"Secondly, that during the three seasons of contractual relationship with Mr. Lazkano (of the five to which the UCI study refers) all the controls to which he was subjected by the different national and international organizations, as well as internal to the team itself, yielded a negative result. By virtue of this, it was materially impossible to know, or even intuit, any anomaly such as the one now presented in the procedure opened by the International Cycling Union.
"And thirdly and most importantly, Abarca Sports [the owners of the Movistar team] reiterates once again with absolute firmness its unwavering commitment to a clean and transparent sport. To this end, we will redouble with absolute determination all the efforts, controls and measures that we have been promoting to date."
The Spanish rider joined Movistar in 2022 after signing from Caja Rural, and enjoyed an upward trajectory with top results in the Classics and stage races, earning himself a contract with Red Bull for 2025.
Notably, this is the second former Movistar rider in a matter of days to be handed a suspension over anti-doping violations.
On Tuesday, Vinícius Rangel, who rode for the team until August 2024, was given a 20-month suspension over repeated failures in the Whereabouts protocol, where riders are required to make themselves available for out-of-competition tests. Riders can be suspended for missing these tests or for failing to share their location.
At present, Lazkano is only provisionally suspended, and the length of his sentence is likely to be determined by which values in his ABP were deemed to be off.
