BARCELONA, Spain -- Three-time Spanish Vuelta winner Roberto Heras was retroactively cleared Friday of a two-year doping ban imposed on him in 2006.
The Spanish cycling federation banned Heras after he tested positive for the illegal substance EPO in the second-to-last stage of the 2005 Vuelta, annulling what would have been his record fourth straight win. The trophy was given to Russian rider Denis Menchov instead.
A court ruled Friday that the Spanish Council for Sports Discipline had no jurisdiction over the appeal and overturned the ban due to irregularities in the investigation.
"This is very good news for me," Heras told Spanish news agency Europa Press. "We presented our defense, with everything that we believed that had been done wrong, and now the court has said we were right."
The court said Heras' test had been handled incorrectly.
"The (blood) samples were not turned in within the 24-hour limit," the court ruling read. "But almost 40 hours later, at room temperature, (and) by an unknown person or business."
The federation said it will appeal the ruling to the higher national court in Madrid. It has 10 days to do so.
Federation spokesman Luis Roman said that the decision whether to also retroactively award Heras the 2005 Vuelta title would not be taken until the appeal process had run its course.
The 37-year-old Heras retired after serving the ban, pointing to a lack of quality offers from elite racing teams.
Heras, who was known as a strong climber in mountain stages, won the Vuelta from 2002 to 2004 and was a teammate of Lance Armstrong from 2001 to 2003, helping the American cyclist dominate the Tour de France during that period.
Armstrong is among the targets of a federal investigation into doping in cycling, and a Los Angeles-based grand jury is hearing evidence that could lead to charges of fraud, conspiracy and drug trafficking against the cyclist and others on his Tour-winning teams.