Mikel Astarloza

Mikel Astarloza
Personal information
Full name	Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau
Team information
Current team	Suspended
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Major wins
	Tour de France, 1 stage (2009); Tour Down Under (2003)

Template:Spanish name 2

Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (born November 17, 1979 in Gipuzkoa, Basque Country) is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer, formerly of UCI ProTour team Euskaltel-Euskadi.

In 2003 he won his first race, when he finished just in front of Lennie Kristensen in the overall rankings of the Tour Down Under. He has taken part in all editions of the Tour de France since 2003, and won stage 16 of the 2009 Tour to record his second professional stage win in any competition (for the Euskaltel team), with his 9th position overall in 2007 as his next best attempt. His cousin Íñigo Chaurreau is also a professional cyclist.

On 26 June 2009 he tested positive on Recombinant Erythropoietin (EPO), for which he was suspended by the UCI on 31 July 2009.^[1] Arstaloza denied using EPO, saying that it was "sporting suicide" to use illegal performance-enhancing drugs.^[2] On May 15, 2010, he was formally handed a two-year ban by the Spanish Cycling Federation. Astarloza continues to claim his innocence, and Euskaltel-Euskadi has stated that they will rehire him once the ban ends.^[3]