The Lazkano enigma ends in the worst possible way
Decrypting the Oier Lazkano case and its future implications after his provisional suspension and dismissal from Red Bull
We cannot let ourselves be guided by prejudice in life, because rationality demands that we operate within legal and social frameworks. Yet, intuition rarely fails when we trust our first instinct. If it looks like paella, smells like paella, and tastes like paella, it’s probably a plate of paella.
Oier Lazkano last raced professionally in the photo accompanying this text at Paris-Roubaix on 13 April 2025. A few days earlier, I’d seen him at the Itzulia. It was the Monday after the Ronde van Vlaanderen, where he abandoned, and where the Basque race began with an individual time trial in Vitoria, Lazkano’s hometown.
Despite having moved his residence to Andorra earlier this year, the Spanish rider was chatting and laughing with former Movistar teammates and staff. Even then, theories were circulating about his poor spring form, and an investigation by the UCI was quietly underway.
A couple of weeks ago, I reported that Lazkano would not attend Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe’s end-of-season camp at Red Bull’s headquarters, which brought together more than 200 staff members from the team.
It was a prelude to what we learned yesterday.
A few days after publishing that information, I spoke with a team member joining in 2026. That person expressed concern about the team’s silence and, in a veiled criticism, questioned the communication policy of recent months, during which the Germans chose to wait for the UCI’s investigation to conclude while the rider remained inactive, though eligible to race, and without any public explanation.
It created awkward situations within the team and fed speculation among journalists and fans.