MURCIA, Spain, (Reuters) - Spaniard Mikel Astarloza,  who finished 11th in this year’s Tour de France, has had a  positive test for the banned blood booster EPO confirmed, his  Euskaltel-Euskadi team said on their website on Tuesday.

Astarloza, 29, who won the 16th stage of the Tour, was  provisionally suspended on July 31 for a positive  out-of-competition test on his A sample. He faces a two-year  ban.

“Euskaltel-Euskadi communicates that Mikel Astarloza has  received today the result of testing on the B sample from the  anti-doping control carried out on June 26th 2009, and the  result is non-negative,” said a statement on the team’s website  (www.fundacioneuskadi.com) said.

“The team is not surprised at this result, given it was  leaked a few days back to the media, and we were prepared to  face this. As has been the case since the announcement of the  non-negative of the A sample on July, 31st, the team trusts in  the rider’s innocence.”

“We have placed this affair in the hands of our lawyers to  prove he is innocent.”
Astarloza won the Tour Down Under in 2003 and finished ninth  overall in last year’s Tour de France.