Bombshell! CAS declares Miguel Angel Lopez did not dope at 2022 Giro d'Italia and orders Astana pay him a large sum of back pay

The CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) considers that Miguel Angel Lopez did not dope in the 2022 Giro d'Italia and therefore condemns the Astana team to pay him salaries for the year 2022 due to what it considers as his unfair dismissal.

It should be remembered that 'Superman' as he's known, is suspended as a precautionary measure by the UCI after being investigated by the Guardia Civil as part of Operation Ilex for his connections with Dr. Marcos Maynar. According to the diario AS, UCI sources have confirmed that Astana Qazaqstan Team will have to pay the Colombian rider's back wages (the Kazakh team was forced to post a bond of more than one million euros in case this happened).

Astana presented to the CAS the report in which the Guardia Civil indicated that Lopez used menotropin at the Giro, a prohibited substance that, according to the UCI, would have caused an inflammation that then made him abandon the Grand Tour.

This theory of the Guardia Civil was also the one that led the UCI to sanction the cyclist as a precautionary measure. At the moment he is still unable to compete since the corresponding disciplinary procedure was opened 9 months ago. There is still no date for whether or not there will be a firm sanction for the rider, although we assume that this CAS resolution will speed up the process. For the moment, as we say, he is still unable to race.