As it was reported by Spanish sports daily AS, Fernando Escartin and Paco Giner are said to replace the former Vuelta a Espana technical director Abraham Olano and share his duties, as the duo was present throughout 2013 edition of the race to acknowledge their new responsibilities.

Abraham Olano was removed from his position last July because of his involvement into practicing illegal doping methods during professional career, as he was named on the list published by French Senate Commission among the 18 riders having tested positive for EPO at the 1998 Tour de France. 43-year old Spaniard, silver Olympic medalist in individual time trial and former World Champion in both road race (Duitama, 1995) and ITT (Valkenburg, 1998), insisted that he decision to remove him may have been due in part to the influence of Tour de France organisers ASO, who own a 49% stake in Unipublic.

"I understand that we are part of ASO and so there is a French part, because otherwise I wouldn't understand it," Olano told AS.

Both Fernando Escartin and Paco Giner were Olano’s contemporaries in the peloton in 1990s, while Escartin rode together with Olano in Mapei team in the mid-1990s. During his short career in professional cycling (1996 – 2002), 45-year old Escartin managed to finish Vuelta a Espana twice as a runner-up, 3rd and 5th at the Tour the France with one stage victory in the process,  and 8th at the Giro.

Both Escartin and Giner were previously involved in organization of Vualta a Espana and their presence were acknowledged during the last edition of the Spanish Grand Tour, as the duo was suppored to learn the trade of the technical director. Earlier Giner has been involved in designing the race’s course, including the decision to introduce the Peñas Blancas climb to the race this year, while Escartin worked as w driver with Unipublic since retiring in 2002.