Manuel Beltrán

Manuel Beltrán Martinez (born 28 May 1971) is a former professional road bicycle racer from Spain. His finishes in the Tour de France are somewhat misleading as he was a lieutenant for his team leader. He was the team leader for numerous Vuelta a España rides and performed well.

Manuel Beltrán

Personal information
Full name	Manuel Beltrán Martinez
Nickname	Triki, The Cookie Monster
Born	(1971-05-28) 28 May 1971 Jaén, Spain
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	60 kg (132 lb; 9 st 6 lb)
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climbing specialist
Professional teams
1994–1996	Mapei–CLAS[1]
1997–1999	Banesto
2000–2001	Mapei–Quick-Step
2002–2003	Team Coast
2003–2006	U.S. Postal Service
2007–2008	Liquigas
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France 3 TTT stages (2003, 2004, 2005) Vuelta a España 1 TTT stage (2004) Stage races Volta a Catalunya (1999)

Beltrán tested positive for EPO after the first stage of the 2008 Tour de France, according to L'Équipe 11 July 2008. The same date as the news broke, a spokesman for his team Liquigas said he would be suspended from the team and thrown out of that year's tour.[2] It was later confirmed that his B-sample also tested positive.[3]

Beltrán was suspended for two years.[4] In 2010, he had to pay his former team 100.000 euros because of his positive doping test in the Tour de France.[5]

His name was also on the list of doping tests published by the French Senate on 24 July 2013 that were collected during the 1998 Tour de France and found positive for EPO when retested in 2004.[6]