Lazkano suspension leaves ex-teammate questioning the system: 'What do we even have it for then?'
The suspension of Oier Lazkano has sent ripples through the peloton, not least among those who know him best. Former team mate Mathias Norsgaard has spoken openly about the case, questioning how abnormalities in a biological passport could go unnoticed for so long. Speaking to Danish outlet Feltet.dk, the tall Dane reflects on trust, responsibility and a system he expected to work differently.
Norsgaard spent three seasons riding alongside Lazkano at Movistar, sharing training camps, races and long hours on the road. That familiarity makes the case harder to digest, especially given the grounds for the suspension.
Lazkano has been provisionally banned following abnormalities in his biological passport between 2022 and 2024, the period in which he recorded the biggest results of his career.
“I am glad that those who cheat get caught,” Norsgaard told Feltet.dk. “I am probably a bit astonished at how it can slip through. There are doctors on Movistar’s payroll, after all, and that they did not pick up the problem, I am very shocked by. What do we even have the system for then?”
The 2024 Dauphiné is central to Norsgaard’s doubts. After a strong Classics spring in 2024, Lazkano finished ninth overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné and climbed better than ever before. For Norsgaard, who will ride for Lidl-Trek in 2026, that sequence raised eyebrows in hindsight.
The case landed close to home for Norsgaard. “I saw him in Andorra in the summer, and nobody had seen him since Roubaix, and he said everything was fine, and then this comes out,” Norsgaard said. “At first I thought it was just the peloton talking rubbish again, because there is a lot of that during a season like this, but it was true, unfortunately.”
Not long after Roubaix, anti-doping officers knocked on Lazkano’s door at his home in Andorra, a visit that, according to a reconstruction by Spanish journalist Carlos Arribas in El País, marked the start of the case.
Officials informed him they were opening proceedings due to irregularities in his biological passport, the same data the UCI later cited when it provisionally suspended him on October 30. Red Bull - Bora - hansgrohe subsequently confirmed he would no longer be part of the team.
Looking back, Norsgaard admits that Lazkano was never an easy character to read. “He was an incredibly strange guy,” he said.
“Quite intelligent and interested in politics and always up to date on different things. But he was a weird guy and would sit in the kitchen with the chef and drink red wine for hours after we had finished eating. He was special, and I definitely would not call him my friend.”
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