Euskaltel-Euskadi has announced Saturday that it has suspended Russian rider Alexander Serebryakov after being notified of an “adverse analytical finding” by the UCI.

The team management said the UCI had informed them that Serebryakov had tested positive on March 18, while training at home.

The 25-year-old, who had been tapped to race Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, has been instantly suspended without pay.

“True to its commitment towards a clean and credible cycling, and in application of the internal rules of procedure consistent with this spirit, the team has decided to immediately expel the cyclist from the team and suspend him of employment and salary,” the team announced on its website.

“The team is astonished that some riders have not yet understood that cycling should be a clean sport without shortcuts, so it condemns emphatically this type of behaviour.”

Significantly, Serebryakov absolved his team of any responsibility in the matter on the Euskaltel-Euskadi website.

“I want to make it clear that the team has nothing to do with this situation, and that it is a personal problem that I will try to clarify in the next few days,” he wrote.

“Team Euskaltel-Euskadi and its technical, medical and support staff have always emphasized their commitment to zero tolerance with doping, and their work in favour of a clean, transparent and credible cycling. I deeply regret what happened, and I apologize to the team and my teammates for this unfortunate situation.”

The timing of such a news announcement couldn’t come at a worse time for the hard pressed Euskaltel team.

One of seven riders signed in large part for the UCI points they brought to the team to help the squad assure a place in the WorldTour league, Serebryakov was part of a new-look Euskaltel. Short of points, the team was forced to drop its tradition of signing and nurturing riders exclusively from the Basque Country. Instead, four Basque riders were dropped, and 11 non-Basque riders were picked up.