Cycling - Tour de France - Stage 5 - Change to Laval Espace Mayenne - France - June 30, 2021 Movistar Team rider Miguel Angel Lopez of Colombia in action during stage 5 REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
(Reuters) - Colombian rider Miguel Angel Lopez has been given a four-year suspension after an anti-doping rule violation, cycling's governing body the UCI said on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old was found guilty of violating the rules for the use and possession of a prohibited substance in the weeks prior to the Giro d'Italia in 2022.
Lopez was provisionally suspended in July 2023 and the ban will remain in force until July 24, 2027. He can appeal the decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport within one month.
Lopez has previously won stages on the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana and is a past winner of the Tour de Suisse and the Volta a Catalunya.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
