Operation Aderlass: Kristijan Durasek given four-year ban for doping
- Published
Kristijan Durasek was Croatian national road race and time trial champion in 2011
Croatia's Kristijan Durasek has been banned for four years for doping by the International Cycling Union.
UAE Team Emirates rider Durasek, 32, was provisionally suspended in May as part of the Operation Aderlass inquiry.
The UCI said Durasek has been sanctioned for anti‐doping rule violations committed between 2016 and 2019 in a statement on Wednesday.
In October, Slovenian pair Kristijan Koren and Borut Bozic got two-year bans as part of the same investigation.
Durasek, who won the 2015 Tour of Turkey, has been with the UAE Team Emirates outfit since 2013 when they were called Lampre-Merida.
Operation Aderlass, led by Austrian authorities, is looking into blood doping, a process where athletes have blood transfusions to increase their stamina and performance, which is prohibited under World Anti-Doping Agency regulations.
Austrian cyclists Georg Preidler and Stefan Denifl and Italian former rider Alessandro Petacchi have all been banned after investigation, while five Nordic skiers were arrested in February.