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Colombian cyclist Miguel Angel Lopez has been handed a four-year doping ban.<\/b><\/p>\n
The sport’s governing body, the International Cycling Union (UCI), said the 30-year-old had violated rules for “use and possession of a prohibited substance” before the 2022 Giro d’Italia.<\/p>\n
The UCI said he had used a banned hormone called Menotropin.<\/p>\n
Lopez was provisionally suspended on 25 July 2023 and the ban will run until 24 July 2027.<\/p>\n
The Colombian was sacked by the Astana team in December 2022 when it alleged he had links with a Spanish doctor who was under investigation as part of a doping ring.<\/p>\n
The UCI said evidence from Spanish police and the country’s national doping agency was used in their investigation against Lopez.<\/p>\n
Lopez finished third in both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana in 2018. He has also previously won a stage on the 2020 Tour de France.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n