Euskaltel-Euskadi reacts to Peña case

By Monika Prell

The direction of the Team Euskaltel-Euskadi showed its surprise about the positive A sample of Aketza Peña that was revealed yesterday. Miguel Madariaga, the General Manager of the team, said to Deia "You can imagine how I feel. It's always bad that something similar happens, but this comes in the worst moment possible. We were not involved in any problem and I really thought that it was rare that they left us in peace," affirmed Madariaga, who passed some days at the Giro and is now in Bilbao. He assured, "I can't explain it, I don't know what could have happened."

He talked to Aketza Peña, who was urged to abandon the Giro d'Italia in order to take a flight to Bilbao and to explain the affair. "He affirmed that he did nothing bad, I don't know, we have to be prudent and to wait."

Madariaga will support the 26 year-old. "I am sure that he does not know what he did, he committed the error ignorantly. If he is honest, I am up to help him. I won't let him down."

According to Diario Vasco, Igor González de Galdeano, the technical secretary of Euskaltel-Euskadi, affirmed that they will first talk with Peña before taking any decision. "We will talk with him, ask him for explanations and later on we will decide. The first thing will be to listen to him and we also have to know the quantity of nandrolone they revealed. Actually, we don't know anything."

El Correo Digital mentions a possible explanation saying that Peña, who did not ride a good Giro di Trentino either, has been in a "diet plan in order to compete the Giro d'Italia."

Now, Peña will have five days to request the counter–analyse to clarify the result of the A sample.