The rider was punished
with two year suspension by the Italian National Olympic Committee CONI
and he must pay a fine of 280.000 euro as well for being tested positive
for the EPO derivative CERA at the 2009 Giro d’Italia.
Despite the ban, the rider announced that he will contest the
decision. Therefore, he will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
and plead innocent. He is convinced that he will manage to return
earlier than in two years. The Italian has had similar problems in the
past ?he already served a three-month suspension in late 2007 and
Italian authorities also tried to ban him in 2008 for two years for
having abnormal hormone levels during the 2007 Giro.
