Following positives from both Valentin and Maxim Iglinskiy, the Astana team have had to self-suspend themselves from the Tour of Beijing to meet MPCC rules and will incur a fine from the UCI of up to $100,000 as a result of not attending the WorldTour’s final race.

But the consequences may be even graver, with the UCI potentially reviewing Astana’s World Tour licence according to Brian Cookson, the UCI’s president.

“I’m sure this is something the license commission will be considering when they appraise their licenses for 2015,” Cookson said to The Associated Press after the Giro d’Italia presentation in Milan. “I’m hopeful that these are two cases, which is two cases too many, but I’m hoping that they are isolated incidents and not symptomatic of a greater problem in the team. I hope so.”

“We’ll wait and see on that one. The decision hasn’t finished yet, and I don’t want to comment further. The second of the two cases is still an ongoing case so it’s not fair for me to comment until that’s completed.”