Astana has been in the spotlight for its many doping cases. Team Doctor Joost Maeseneer acknowledges the problem but inisists that the continental team is completely separate from the Kazakh WorldTour team. "It's a different team with its own managemen."

For two years, Joost De Maeseneer has been working as a team doctor at Astana. "In that time, I have never seen anything suspicious," he told Sporza. "The zero tolerance policy is bearing fruit but there are always riders who go a step too far. It is good that they are caught."

"What the Iglinskiy brothers did was not smart. They were both out of contract and didn't want to disappear from the spotlight. They did stupid things, with the known outcome as a result. I want to emphasize that these are the only two coping cases at Pro Team Astana."

Regarding the positive tests in the continental squad, De Maeseneer is clear. "That is a completely different team where another management is responsible for the policy. It is too bad that team has the same name so it looks as if we are responsible."

That is not the case De Maeseneer emphasizes again. "In the WorldTour team, the fight against doping is an absolute priority. When I arrived, it was made very clear to me. Doping has no place at Astana."

"To give an example. We have four doctors. The thirty riders are divided into three groups of ten. Three doctors take care of each group and refer directly to me. Organized doping is totally out of question."

Meanwhile, the activities of the continental team have been suspended. "That's a good sign," said De Maeseneer. "Vinokourov takes firm action against dopers. That is proved again.

"We won this year's Tour de France with Vincenzo Nibali and immediately people are suspicious because of Vinokourov's presence. I can assure you that Nibali won the Tour without doping.

"At the Tour de France, he was checked twenty times and we also carried out internal controls. Allegations against Nibali are absolutely not necessary. We want a team that is as clean as possible, and work hard for that. Yet doping is a never ending story and it will never disappear completely from the sport of cycling."