Manolo Saiz Resigns From Astana-Wurth

Manolo Saiz couldn't take it anymore. Urged, over the past few weeks, to step down from his position of team director of ProTour, he finally listened to his critics. Yesterday afternoon, he announced that he is no longer the sporting director of Astana-Wurth Cycling team.

The Kazakh sponsor took over after Liberty Seguros stepped out of the cycling world due to the doping scandal. It was then that Manolo Saiz received the first blow. The second was Jean Marie LeBlanc's statements that the Spaniard's team is not to participate in this year's edition of Le Tour. The Tour manager said that he will not allow such a scandal trash the image of the French competition, and threatened to take immediate action against ProTour in case the Anti-doping Agencies won't.

Manolo Saiz and one of the doctors that he worked with during the last few years, Eufemiano Fuentes, are still under investigation, after the Spanish police found a big amount of anabolic steroids and other medical supplies - as well as more than 100 frozen packs of blood - in their residences.

Moreover, Spanish cyclist Roberto Heras received a 2-year ban last year, after testing positive to EPO (erythropoietin). Former member of Liberty Seguros, the former teammate of Lance Armstrong denied all allegations, stating that there must have been a mistake in the labs. Still, the doctors proved him wrong, taking him the chance to win a record of 4 Tour of Spain's titles.

Alexander Vinokourov, the Kazakh that is most likely to be the leader of Astana-Wurth team in Le Tour this year, has stated a few days ago that he still trusts his manager. Still, after facing the dangerous possibility of not being able to compete in the French competition this July, he admitted that Manolo would better step down until the investigation will be completed.