Colombian climber Germán Darío Gómez Becerra has been provisionally suspended by the UCI after testing positive for the anabolic steroid Boldenone — a blow that lands on ProTeam Polti VisitMalta just hours before the 109th Giro d’Italia rolls out of Burgas, Bulgaria on Friday, May 8.
The timing is brutal. Polti VisitMalta arrived at this year’s Grande Partenza on a wildcard invitation, the team’s fifth consecutive Giro start since relaunching under former pros Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso. They came in with strong late-spring form and a piece of history already secured — Andrea Mifsud, the first Maltese rider to start a Grand Tour, was set to line up for the opening stage. Instead, the squad faces that stage under a cloud.
The Adverse Finding
The out-of-competition sample was collected on December 28, 2025. At the time, Gómez was recovering from an operation on his collarbone sustained when he was struck by a driver during training, leaving him with several fractures. He says he was notified of the result on the morning of January 27, 2026.
The UCI confirmed the case in a formal statement:
“The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announces that Colombian rider Germán Darío Gómez Becerra has been notified of an Adverse Analytical Finding for Boldenone and one of its metabolites in a sample collected out-of-competition on 28 December 2025. In accordance with the UCI Anti-Doping Rules, the rider has been provisionally suspended. He has the right to request the analysis of the B sample. The UCI will not comment further while the proceedings are ongoing.”
Boldenone sits under S1.1 of the WADA Prohibited List — classified as an anabolic androgenic steroid, a synthetic testosterone derivative originally developed for veterinary use with no approved therapeutic application in humans. The sample was collected under the independent anti-doping programme run by the International Testing Agency (ITA) on behalf of the UCI.
The Team’s Response
Polti VisitMalta confirmed the suspension and issued a statement standing by its anti-doping stance:
“At Team Polti VisitMalta, we operate under a strict zero-tolerance policy towards doping. This principle is a non-negotiable foundation of our project and is clearly stipulated in all our contracts and in our Code of Conduct. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to clean cycling and will continue to cooperate fully with the UCI and all competent authorities to clarify the facts.”
The provisional suspension takes effect immediately. Gómez will not start the race.
Gómez Vows to Fight
Gómez is 24. He turned professional with Colombia Tierra de Atletas-GW Bicicletas-Shimano in 2022 before joining Polti’s ProTeam setup in 2024 — and in a personal statement, he contested the finding directly:
“Cycling has given me everything — it’s been the central pillar of my life. For that reason, I’ve never considered malpractice to obtain an advantage. From this moment forward, I will begin the necessary legal process to prove my innocence, clear my name, and continue my sporting career.”
His best results include fourth overall at the 2023 Giro Next Gen and sixth at last year’s Tour of Turkey. He signed a one-year contract extension with the team in October, a deal set to expire at the end of this season.
The Wider Impact on Polti VisitMalta’s Giro
Gómez was never part of the confirmed eight-man Giro roster — Mattia Bais, Ludovico Crescioli, Giovanni Lonardi, Mirco Maestri, Andrea Mifsud, Thomas Pesenti, Andrea Pietrobon, and Diego Pablo Sevilla were already named to carry the team’s ambitions into the race. Sports director Giovanni Ellena had spoken of racing aggressively: chasing stage wins in breakaways and sprints, leaning on the Grand Tour experience of Bais and Tonelli alongside three Grand Tour debutants.
That objective hasn’t changed on paper. But the suspension throws a shadow over what should have been a clean build-up for a ProTeam operating right at the edge of the wildcard threshold. Polti VisitMalta squeezed inside the top 30 of the UCI 2025 team rankings to stay eligible for the invitation — and now a doping case injects reputational pressure at the worst possible moment for Contador and Basso’s project.
Stage 1 of the 2026 Giro d’Italia departs Burgas on Friday, May 8 — the first time the race has ever started in Bulgaria. The 184-rider peloton will contest three stages on the Black Sea coast before moving to Italy, with the race concluding in Rome on May 31.
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