Matija Kvasina

Matija Kvasina (born 4 December 1981) is a Croatian racing cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI Continental team . He finished 56th in the road race and 38th in the road time trial at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In 2017, Kvasina was given a four-year doping suspension after a positive drugs test at that year's Flèche du Sud.

Career Born in Nova Gradiška, Kvasina was named by as part of their squad for the 2016 season.

In 2016, he won the overall title at the Tour of Croatia.

Doping Kvasina tested positive for an experimental drug known as Molidustat (BAY-85-3934), during two tests taken during the 2017 Flèche du Sud - a race in which he won. Molidustat represents a class of drugs that act on the same physiological pathways and enzyme cascades as those which are activated during altitude training. Oxygen deprivation has the effect of stimulating the body's production of erythropoietin (EPO) - Molidustat imitates this. Kvasina was subsequently kicked out of the 2017 Tour of Austria.

In oxygen poor environments the human body manufactures a protein called hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), which initiates and drives the processes which allow the body to adapt to those low-oxygen conditions. Typically this involves increasing the concentrations of naturally made EPO, mobilising iron and an increase in the rate of red blood cell production. Under normal oxygen environmental conditions, HIF is kept in check (its actions are inhibited) by an enzyme called prolyl hydroxylase (PH). Moldustat stops PH from blocking HIF, thus, increasing both the concentrations of EPO and red blood cells in the body, imitating altitude training.

Major results

2002 4th Trofeo Alcide Degasperi 10th Overall GP Kranj 2003 6th Overall Jadranska Magistrala 7th GP Istria 3 8th Trofeo Alcide Degasperi 2004

6th Overall Tour of Slovenia 7th Overall Tour de l'Avenir 2005

1st Overall Tour de Serbie 1st Stage 2 4th Tour de Berne 6th Giro del Belvedere 8th Overall Tour de l'Avenir 8th Poreč Trophy 10th Overall Tour of Slovenia 2006

2nd Overall Vuelta a Cuba 1st Stage 11a (ITT) 3rd Overall Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour 4th Overall Tour de Serbie 4th GP Triberg-Schwarzwald 5th Overall Tour of Slovenia 6th Overall Tour de l'Avenir 9th Overall Regio-Tour 10th Overall Circuit des Ardennes 2007 National Road Championships

3rd Road race 1st Stage 2 Course de la Solidarité Olympique 2nd GP Triberg-Schwarzwald 3rd Overall Tour de Serbie 3rd Giro del Belvedere 6th Overall Tour of Slovenia 6th Rund um die Hainleite 10th Sparkassen Giro Bochum 2008

1st Overall Tour de Serbie 2nd Trofeo Zsšdi 2nd Ljubljana–Zagreb 8th Overall Tour of Slovenia 10th Overall Istrian Spring Trophy 2009 2nd Giro Valli Aretine 3rd Overall Grand Prix Cycliste de Gemenc 6th Overall Tour of Slovenia 2010 4th Trofeo Internazionale Bastianelli 9th Giro del Veneto 10th Overall Course de la Solidarité Olympique 2011 1st Banja Luka–Belgrade II 1st Central European Tour Miskolc GP National Road Championships 2nd Time trial 3rd Road race 6th Overall Tour of Bulgaria 6th Trofeo Avis 8th Overall Tour of Slovenia 2012 1st Overall Tour of Romania 1st Stage 5 2nd Overall Sibiu Cycling Tour 3rd Time trial, National Road Championships 4th Overall Tour of Szeklerland 1st Mountains classification 1st Stages 3 & 4 (ITT) 4th Central European Tour Miskolc GP 5th Overall Tour de Serbie 8th Overall Istrian Spring Trophy 2013

2nd Overall Sibiu Cycling Tour 3rd Overall Okolo Jižních Čech 1st Stage 3 4th Raiffeisen Grand Prix 8th Overall Giro della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia 9th Overall Istrian Spring Trophy 1st Mountains classification 10th Overall Tour of Austria 2014

2nd Trofej Umag 3rd Road race, National Road Championships 3rd Overall Okolo Slovenska 5th Overall Tour de Bretagne 6th Tour de Berne 2015 National Road Championships

3rd Road race 3rd Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 9th Overall Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour 9th Overall Czech Cycling Tour 2016

3rd Overall Tour de Serbie 8th Overall Tour d'Azerbaïdjan 9th Poreč Trophy 2017 National Road Championships

2nd Road race

7th Overall Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour 1st Mountains classification