It appears another set of doping infirngements have hit cycling. Petr Ignatenko has been fired by the RusVelo team after he returned an adverse analytical finding for human growth hormone in an out-of-competition doping control carried out on April 8, while the UCI has also revealed that Southeast’s Panamanian rider Ramon Carretero tested positive for EPO during the Tour of Turkey on April 22.

Carretero, 24, rode two stages of the Giro before DNFing due to influenza. The team is believed to have tried to replace him in the team the day before the race began but they were not allowed to do so.

This is Southeast’s fourth positive in three seasons, after Danilo Di Luca and Mauro Santambrogio tested positive in the aftermath of the 2013 Giro and Matteo Rabottini became the third EPO positive in an out of competition test taken in September 2014.

As members of the MPCC, should Carretero’s B-sample test positive, the team would have to suspend itself from racing for a week.

“I’m in Paris and I’m going to the Four Seasons where I’ve got a meeting with a big sponsor but what am I going to tell them now?” Southeast manager Angelo Citracca told Tuttobici.

“The last person I’d have expected something like this from is Ramon. You all know the rider and his technical value. He has a special story as an athlete representing a country like Panama and that was more than enough for us.”

27-year-old Russian Ignatenko joined RusVelo after dropping down from WorldTour team Katusha. He is the fifth positive they have had in the last two and a bit years and he is the most high profile human growth hormone case since Patrick Sinkewitz in 2012. The German was recently banned until 2022.

The UCI did not issue a statement on Ignatenko or Carretero's positive tests, preferring instead simply to update the list of provisional doping sanctions listed on its website. Shortly afterwards, the RusVelo squad issued a press release in which it announced the termination of Ignatenko’s contract.

“Professional continental team RusVelo has been notified by the UCI of a possible infringement of the anti-doping regulations by the rider of the team Petr Ignatenko,” the statement read.

“Staying true to the principles of zero tolerance to any violations of this type, the team officially declares all the previously concluded agreements with the rider null and void with an immediate effect.

“By signing a contract a rider takes on a range of serious and clear obligations. He is expected to be aware of unavoidable consequences he faces if he fails to comply with them. The team reserves the right to bring the rider to court for his misdoing.”

Also an MPCC member, RusVelo missed the Giro dell’Appennino and suspended itself for eight days in July 2013 after Valery Kaykov tested positive for GW1516 and three others tested positive for the asthma medication Fenoterol.

The Pro Continental team was still on the MPCC’s “watch list” at the beginning of this season and would have faced a four-week auto-suspension had another of its riders tested positive before March 17.