Vuelta organizers fire Olano after doping charge

Abraham Olano, right, next to Sean Kelly, has been fired from his position as technical director for Spanish Vuelta. (AP/Christophe Ena)

MADRID, Spain — Spanish Vuelta organizers have fired former world road champion Abraham Olano as the race’s technical director after his name appeared in a report by the French senate of cyclists who doped during the 1998 Tour de France.

Vuelta spokesman Ivan Gomez confirmed Spanish media reports to The Associated Press that Olano had been let go.

Olano, who won the world road race championships in 1995 and the Vuelta in 1998, denies that he doped.

Olano tells Europa Press news agency “I have my doubts about that (doping) control, about how it was carried out.”

The French report released on Wednesday uncovered proof that 1998 Tour champion Marco Pantani and runner-up Jan Ullrich used banned blood-booster EPO to fuel their performances.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.