Astana General Manager Alexander Vinokurov has asked the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF) to investigate leaked allegations that two of his riders were working with banned doping doctor Michele Ferrari and called for a full investigation to be launched.

Vinokurov himself is a past Ferrari client and former doping athlete who received a two-year ban for blood doping.

Last Sunday, the Danish newspaper Politiken, Danish state television DR, and the Norwegian daily VG reported that they had obtained a 24-page document commissioned by the CADF that reported on Astana's Jakob Fuglsang and Alexey Lutsenko's relationship with Ferrari The report stated.

The team initially declined to comment, but Fuglsang and Lutsenko later made statements distancing themselves from Lance Armstrong's former doctor. Fuglsang denied allegations that he had met with Ferrari at Monaco, stating that he had "no case to answer."

"I dispute that I met with Dr. Ferrari," Fuglsang wrote on Instagram. 'I am not aware of any report and can confirm that no proceedings have been initiated against me by the competent anti-doping authorities. Therefore, I have no case to answer. I am very concerned about these rumors in the press."

On Wednesday, the CADF confirmed that after "receiving information related to alleged anti-doping rule violations," it had asked information provider Sportradar to conduct additional research for its report.

The anti-doping agency also stated that "after careful consideration of the available elements, it did not submit a report to the UCI for the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against the individual or team in question."

The CADF added that it would launch its own investigation into how the confidential material became public. On Wednesday, Vinokurov, who once said that "Ferrari does not mean doping," supported that idea.

"I am pleased that today the CADF has issued a statement explaining the status of the confidential report recently released to the media," he wrote on the Astana team website.

"As noted, no anti-doping rule violations have been identified and no disciplinary action has been taken against any athlete or team as a result. We respect the work done by the UCI and the CADF in the fight against doping in cycling and consider it absolutely normal to check everything, even minor facts that could cast a shadow over our sport. This activity is intended to make cycling a cleaner sport.

"At the same time, we hope that the CADF will conduct a careful investigation into the manner in which such information was published in order to ensure that this situation is not repeated with respect to any team or rider. The publication of unverified or incomplete information in the media is detrimental not only to professional riders and their teams, but also to the image of cycling as a whole.

"On behalf of the team, I would like to thank our sponsors and fans for their trust and support at a moment when incorrect and largely unreliable information has been disseminated in the media over the past few days."

Ferrari also disputed the allegations in the report, denying that it was racing with Fuglsang near Monaco or that Fuglsang was with the team at the Volta a Catalunya last year.

"I have had nothing to do with Team Astana players for more than 10 years," Ferrari said. 'I haven't been to Monaco or Nice for at least 12 years. I've never ridden a scooter or a motorcycle, I've never raced against cyclists, I haven't been to the 2019 Volta a Catalunya, I haven't physically been present at a single race since 1994, I haven't been to a single race since I was a kid, I haven't been to a single race since I was a kid.

The "report" is based on false reports from likely interested parties. I am not based in Lugano. I have never been convicted of doping."

Ferrari was banned from working in sports for life in 2012 following a US Anti-Doping Agency investigation into Lance Armstrong and the US Postal team.