The Bahrain-Merida team fired Kristijan Koren and Borut Bozic after the Slovenian duo received a two-year doping ban from the UCI on Wednesday.

In a statement sent to Cycling News, the team insisted that it was taking a "zero tolerance" approach to doping and emphasized that the sanction was related to a previous violation while they were members of the team.

Koren, a team rider, and Bozich, a sport director and former athlete, were both banned for two years by the UCI after their involvement in a blood doping ring uncovered by an Austrian police investigation known as "Operation Adelrath." Both sanctions related to the "use of prohibited methods/substances" and were imposed on Koren in 2011 and 2012, and on Bozic in 2012.

Koren, who withdrew from this year's Giro d'Italia after a possible anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) on the morning of stage 5, was with the Liquigas-Cannondale team in 2011 and 2012 before moving to Bahrain-Merida in 2018. Bozich, meanwhile, was with Astana in 2012, rode for Bahrain-Merida in 2017 and 2018, and became sports director in 2019.

"We note the UCI sanctions against Christian Collen and Borut Bozic.

"In accordance with Team Bahrain-Merida's zero-tolerance policy, Mr. Koren and Mr. Bozich were immediately suspended upon first notification from the UCI and their contracts were subsequently terminated. We have no further comment on this matter."

Operation Adelrath ("bloodletting" in English) was brought to light in February by an Austrian police investigation that uncovered a blood doping ring led by former Gerolsteiner doctor Mark Schmidt. Although the first to be arrested were skiers, it did not take long for the involvement of professional cyclists to be uncovered, and Stefan Denifle and Georg Preidler were the first to be sanctioned. in May, Koren and Bozic, along with Alessandro Petacchi, Kristijan Durasek, Danilo Hondo, and other names followed.

Bahrain-Merida has distanced itself from Koren and Bozic's violations, but it was recently revealed that the team's managing director, Milan Elsen, is under investigation by the UCI for doping, and newspaper reports in Italy and France have reported his and Schmidt Dr. Schmidt's relationship with Dr. In September 2018, Bahrain-Merida rider Kangstansingh Siutu tested positive for EPO and is still serving a provisional suspension.