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10 March 2026
The UCI Disciplinary Commission has decided to suspend the Colombian Continental Team Medellin – EPM (Team Suspension) for a period of 30 days, starting on 27 March 2026 and effective until 25 April 2026, in accordance with article 11.3 of the UCI Anti-Doping Rules (UCI ADR).
The UCI ADR provide for the suspension of a team when two or more of its riders or staff receive notice of certain types of asserted anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) which occurred during the same 12-month period. Two riders from UCI Continental Team Medellin – EPM have received notice of asserted ADRVs based on the abnormalities detected in their respective Athlete Biological Passport (ABP)¹, more precisely for Adverse Passport Findings (APF).²
The Team Suspension is based on the following cases:³
On 10 June 2025, the Colombian rider Aldemar Reyes Ortega was notified by the National Anti-Doping Organization of Colombia (COLDEPORTES) of an asserted ADRV, due to unexplained abnormalities in his ABP in the period around February and August 2023.
Then, on 21 August 2025, the Colombian rider Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo was notified by the COLDEPORTES of an ADRV, due to unexplained abnormalities in his ABP also in February 2023, as well as between July and December 2024 and in January 2025.
The UCI Disciplinary Commission’s decision may be challenged before the appeals division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) by the team or the UCI in accordance with Article 11.3.2 of the UCI ADR.
The ITA will not comment further on this matter.
Following the delegation of results management to the ITA within the framework of the independent anti-doping program it leads on behalf of the UCI, the ITA will henceforth communicate on decisions rendered by the UCI Disciplinary Commission and the UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal in cases falling within the scope of this program.
¹ The Athlete Biological Passport is an individual electronic profile that monitors selected biological variables of an athlete. It contains the results of the athletes’ urine and blood samples, which are tracked consistently. Any significant variation from normal levels can be assessed for possible manipulation. At the ITA, ABP management is performed by a specialist unit of experts who liaise with the Athlete Passport Management Units (APMUs) and ABP Expert Panels in order to issue further targeted testing or in case of adverse or atypical passport findings.
² An Adverse Passport Finding is reported when three experts unanimously reach the conclusion that it is highly likely that the values of an athlete’s biological passport are the result of the use of a prohibited substance or method and that there is no reasonably conceivable hypothesis under which the ABP values are the result of a normal physiological condition and highly unlikely that it is the result of a pathological condition. In the context of Team Suspension, the relevant dates to determine if the commission of the ADRVs occurred within the same twelve-month period is the period of time during which the riders used a prohibited method or a prohibited substance according to the expert panel’s evaluation of the respective ABP.
³ Considering that the UCI delegated the results management of ADRVs and other legal anti-doping matters to the ITA in early February 2026, the proceedings before the UCI Disciplinary Commission were handled by the UCI and the individual ADRVs were processed by the National Anti-Doping Organization of Colombia.
