Following on from Lampre-Merida, Bardiani CSF and LottoNL-Jumbo, who each left the MPCC anti-doping movement in recent weeks, a fourth squad is exiting the group.

Team Southeast has indicated to the MPCC that it no longer considers itself a member. The group has responded by saying that it has opened exclusion proceedings.

The team had previously been suspended from the group in the wake of a positive test by Matteo Rabottini, as announced by the UCI in August 2014. The MPCC voiced serious concerns that it had not been informed of the matter by the team; despite that, the squad did not show up at the general meeting to explain.

As a result of that, the MPCC board met the team’s sporting director Serge Parsani on December 3 2014. He was there representing the manager Angelo Citracca.

“The membership of the team for the coming season depended on these new explanations,” explained the MPCC in a statement issued on Friday. “At the end of the board meeting it was decided to suspend team Neri Sottoli’s MPCC membership with immediate effect, until the October 2015 general meeting.

“The team, since renamed Southeast, continued to be considered a member of MPCC until that decision was made in this general meeting.”

The latest developments occurred in the wake of a positive test for EPO by the rider Ramon Carretero, as announced by the UCI on June 9. As the two tests occurred inside twelve months of each other, the rules of the MPCC state that the team had to suspend itself from racing between June 13 and 20.

However, the team instead told the MPCC that it no longer considered itself a member since January of the current season.

The MPCC said that this was the first time the team had made this position clear despite several contacts between them since the start of the year.

While the team states it already considers itself to be out of the movement, the MPCC has nevertheless said that it is opening an exclusion process against the squad.