According to Sporza, the Katusha team’s Vuelta a Espana plans have apparently been complicated. At first, the Russian team has faced with Giampaolo Caruso’s suspension for a positive EPO. Yuri Trofimov was selected to replace the Italian rider, but he has lost his place after getting drunk in the aftermath of the Olympic test event in Rio on Sunday.

Unlike Trofimov, Silin was on Katusha’s original roster for the Vuelta but has also now been told he won’t be on the start line. Sporza claims the pair were in a state of drunkenness at the airport ahead of their flight back from Rio and that this lies behind their absence from the Vuelta, which begins on Saturday on the south coast of Spain.

Tiago Machado and Gatis Smukulis will replace these riders on the three-week race.