Ezequiel Mosquera talks about his case

Today Ezequiel Mosquera held a press conference. The 36-year old rider tested positive on hydroxyethyl starch in the 2010 Vuelta in which he finished second. The Spaniard meanwhile signed a contract with Vacansoleil-DCM but never rode for the team pending the investigation. Mind you, he was never suspended, the team chose not to let him ride.

In his press conference Mosquera was bitter about the way his case was treated in relation to Alberto Contador. He also linked his case to Alexandre Kolobnev who was recently acquitted by the Russian federation. And Mosquera linked his case to his teammate David Garcia Dapena’s. He was found guilty of using EPO and is suspended. Mosquera never tested positive op EPO and can’t ride till 2014 while Garcia Dapena will be bike on the bike in 2012.

Hydroxyethyl starch can be used as a masking agent for doping use. The case is about whether the Spaniard ingested the substance orally or whether it was injected. If the latter is the case, it is deemed doping but the Spanish anti-doping authorities have never been able to establish if it was ingested orally or if it was injected.The judge will probably rule a two-year suspension just to be sure and avoid all suspicions. Suspension will start now and not a year ago,

Mosquera is 36 and his career seems to have come to an end. Even though he said today Vacansoleil and the medical staff believed in his innocence, manager Daan Luijckx said in Dutch media this week he was looking for a young, talented climber with the money he now “saved” by letting Mosquera go.

It’s the harsh world of cycling nowaydays. It’s something that I as a  journalist hate writing about but it’s also the first two posts on my blog.