Rusvelo face four-week suspension after three positives for asthma drug

The Russian RusVelo team is under pressure to serve a period of self suspension after it confirmed that three riders had tested positive for the asthma medication Fenoterol.

The Professional Continental team is a member of the MPCC (Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Crédible), whose rules call for a four-week suspension in the case of three positive tests within a 24 month period.

In April, Valery Kaykov was provisionally suspended and sacked by the team after failing a test for the new fat-burning drug GW1516.

Rusvelo confirmed that Andrey Solomennikov, Roman Maikin, and Artem Ovechkin all tested positive for Fenoterol after the Russian national championships in late June. The substance is banned for in-competition use by the World Anti-Doping Code.

“The internal team investigation proved that the drug was contained in asthma medication used by the athletes for acute asthma episodes. The medication which contained the prohibited substance was prescribed to the athletes by the team doctor,” the team said in a statement.

“The team will now apply all appropriate sanctions to the team doctor for this mistake. The riders are currently temporarily suspended from competitions and team trainings until the decision of the Disciplinary Committee of the national anti-doping agency, RUSADA. Rusvelo management reminds that the main principle of the team is zero tolerance for doping. We support clean cycling and we intend to continue doing that.”