ITALY: CYCLING: Giro d'Italia champion Danilo Di Luca banned for doping offences

Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca has been given a three-month ban for doping offences, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) said on Tuesday (October 16). The 31-year-old was suspended after a hearing at the Rome offices of CONI, the governing body for all sport in Italy, for his links with Carlo Santuccione, a doctor accused of supplying doping products to athletes. The ruling means the ProTour leader, who denies any wrongdoing, will miss the competition's last race of the season, Saturday's (October 20) Giro di Lombardia in northern Italy. Di Luca was forced to pull out of the road cycling world championships in Stuttgart just three days before they started last month, after CONI's anti-doping chief Ettore Torri charged the Liquigas rider. Torri had asked for a four-month ban for the Italian cyclist, after CONI found irregular levels in a sample taken from Di Luca during the Giro on May 30. The three-year investigation, which is known as the "Oil for Drugs" probe, focused on Santuccione who is alleged to have supplied athletes, including Di Luca, with banned substances.

ITN Source | October 17, 2007

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