UCI officials conducted blood test health checks on 40 riders before the start of the first stage of the Volta a Catalunya and found Czech rider Jan Hruska (3 Molinos Resort) to be unfit to race. Hruska will have to stop racing for two weeks under UCI rules.
Ginés García, manager of the 3 Molinos Resort team, played down the finding, even though Hruska is the fourth member of his team to fail a blood test this year. "Hruska really has a reticulocyte level underneath the allowed one by the UCI," said García, "and unlike Tauler, Hruska has not had a previous [incident]."
