In a post on Facebook, the 2017 and 2018 Tournament winner of the Volta a Portugal bike race, said that he had been notified of the provisional suspension, but claimed to be innocent.

According to the UCI provisionally suspended list of cyclists, Alarcón, 33, is accused of ‘using prohibited methods and / or prohibited substances’.

A crash at the Abimota Grand Prix in June prevented Alarcón from defending the Volta a Portugal win, which was eventually won by his team-mate João Rodrigues.