Mosquera could be cleared of doping on a technicality, in time for the Vuelta

Ezequiel Mosquera could be let off, on a technicality, after the Spaniard tested positive in last year’s Vuelta a Espana.

Mosquera finished second in the 2010 Vuelta, but it was later revealed he had tested positive for, masking agent, Hydroxyethyl. He has consistently denied using it, but now his team have gone for the technicality over the innocence. His lawyers have discovered that the starch is only illegal if it is intravenously injected, which could lead him to being let off.

His team are certainly holding out for a victory in the courts, as they have already put him on their provisional list for this year’s Vuelta. Unfortunately for cycling it is very difficult to tell how the substance was put in to the body.

VaE: Philip Gilbert takes his second victory in La Vuelta while Vincenzo Nibali hold on to Red

Philip Gilbert took his second victory in this year’s la Vuelta a Espana after a huge sprint in to the town of Toledo.

With just over 3km to go several riders launched an attack including Luis Leon Sanchez. They managed to pull out a small gap of around five seconds, but they were caught 1km later. The attacks broke up the peloton leaving the sprinters behind.

This allowed the explosive Belgian to start a 500 metre sprint to the line, but he was almost caught by Tyler Farrar who had survived the earlier escape attempts. Vincenzo Nibali managed to come in not too far behind the Belgian to keep a 50’ gap ahead of Ezequiel Mosquera.

Today’s stage was the longest of this year’s Vuelta and a mixture of terrain and the riders legs were tested immediately with a second category climb. The rest of the stage was very undulating, but gradually moved down and a slight incline in the last kilometre.

A break away was formed after the first and only classified climb of the day. It was Dominik Roels, who was in the break yesterday and Josep Jufre who came of the front of the bunch first. They were soon joined by Manuel Ortega and Xavier Florencio; the four men managed to pull out a massive gap very quickly.