Former Liberty Seguros team manager Manolo Saiz has been replaced by Roger Legeay, the manager of Crédit Agricole, on an UCI ProTour council.

Saiz has become a pariah in the sport ever since he was implicated in an ongoing doping affair in Spain to which 58 riders are allegedly linked.

The Spaniard was taken in for questioning by police in Madrid at the end of May after he was arrested with 60,000 euros and banned substances in his possession.

His arrest was one of the first moves in the investigation dubbed Operation Puerto, and which led to the discovery of an alleged blood doping network being run by Madrid-based doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.

As well as being the former boss of the now defunct Liberty Seguros team Saiz was a representative for the team managers' association (AIGCP) at the ProTour.

However, the UCI's decision on Tuesday, a day before the start of the world cycling road race championships in Salzburg, Austria, appears to be the final nail in the coffin.

After his implication, Saiz resigned temporarily from his role as team manager at Liberty before the sponsor pulled out of the sport.

The team, whose star rider is Alexandre Vinokourov, was then renamed Astana after the Kazakh ace stepped in with financial support from companies in the former Soviet republic.

Vinokourov is trying to assure the team's future as part of the ProTour, although it is Saiz who still holds major shares in Active Bay, the company that owns the four-year license which allows Astana to compete in the ProTour.