Alberto Gallego who tested positive for Stanozolol on January 3, just three days after joining his new Caja Rural team, has issued an open letter following the announcement that his contract has been terminated and that he has been provisionally suspended by the UCI.

"I want to start this open letter to all cycling fans by claiming without any doubt that I support the fight against doping and always have been doing so.

"Yesterday morning I received a notification from the International Cycling Union. In the control taken on January 3, a small amount of stanozolol, a banned product, was found so I have been suspended. My reaction could only be like it was: disbelief.

"I have never taken stanozolol. Moreover, after asking doctors because U did not know what kind of substance it is, I have found that stanozolol is a much more typical product for a bodybuilder than for a professional cyclist and also is a product that always leaves traces in the body for many weeks. In my case, it is illogical to think that I would have used that product to improve my performance. I have not used it, simply due to my personal ethics and the slightest common sense since it was clearly going to give result in a positive control and also not going to improve my sports performance.

"I fully understand that at this point many will not want to believe in my innocence. But I have no doubt about it and I will go to the Spanish Anti-Doping Agency and the other institutions that ensure a clean sport, to undergo all the necessary tests and to submit alle the products I have taken during this time. It is the objective of the Agency and the other institutions to punish cheaters but also to help riders who do not have many financial resources and who have never used performance-enhancing drugs.

"After checking all supplement that that I have used in recent years, I am more than certain that there is no stanozolol on any of the labels, only amino acids, proteins and carbohydrates that should not have anything to do with stanozolol. Therefore, I have only the option of assuming that I was the victim of contamination in the laboratory.

"I will ask for a counternanalysis with my B sample of urine while looking at all the amino acids, carbohydrates and proteins that I have taken in recent months in order to see which can be the source of stanozolol as some of them must be the source for the contamination that has now put my career under threat. For me, it is obvious that if you have not taken anything consciously and it is not on the labels, you are a victim.

And I need the support of everybody to prove it.

Regards 

Alberto Gallego, professional cyclist