The rumors circulating in cycling-related media in last few days were confirmed on Monday, as Astana officially confirmed that Maxim Iglinskiy won’t seek the counter-analysis of his B-sample after he tested positive following participation this year’s Tour de France.

Thus, the Kazakh team was forced to withdraw from participation in the upcoming Tour of Beijing, held from October 10 to 14, to meet the MPCC rules. They state that every member of the movement is obligated to suspend itself for eight days beginning with the next WorldTour event on the calendar if a team has two positive tests in a twelve-month period.

It was a case for Astana, as Maxim’s positive test was revealed only three weeks after his younger brother’s, Valentin, who immediately confessed to using EPO and received a four-year ban.

However, the hesitation of the older and more renowned Iglinskiy brother let them to participate in the Il Lombardia and Tour of Almaty -  highly important for their sponsors.

“Astana Pro Team has moved to act upon the decision by rider Maxim Iglinskiy not to request a counter-analysis of his positive control from 1 August 2014,” read the Astana statement. “In doing so the team conforms to rules set by the MPCC, which Astana Pro Team joined in 2013, and has therefore decided to withdraw from the final World Tour event – the Tour of Beijing.”

The MPCC acknowledged Astana’s self-suspension in a statement published on its website on Monday evening.

“This self-suspension will apply from October 10, start date of the Tour of Beijing, to October 17, and will also include the Giro dell’Emilia and the GP Bruno Beghelli. The whole team will have to stop during this period. This temporary suspension of the activity of the team is with a view to implementing any corrective action it deems appropriate.”