Matteo Priamo given four-year doping ban
Matteo Priamo (CSF Group/IRL) celebrates as he crosses the finish line winning the sixth stage of the 91st Giro between Potenza and Peschici on May 15, 2008 (DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images)
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has handed Italian cyclist Matteo Priamo a
four-year ban for supplying banned blood
booster EPO CERA to former CSF team-mate
The anti-doping prosecutor of the Italian Olympic Committee
(CONI) had taken up the case on appeal after
Sella tested positive in July last year, shortly after winning three stages of the Giro d'Italia. He confessed to using the drug and received a reduced one-year suspension after he agreed to co-operate with the authorities, naming Priamo as his supplier. He returned to the saddle in August with Italian outfit Carmiooro Style-A.
The CAS ruled it was "sufficiently established" that Priamo had violated two articles of the World Anti-Doping Code regarding possession and administration of a banned substance to an athlete. The start of his suspension has been backdated to 27 February.
Priamo, 27, won a stage of the 2008 Giro at Peschici, where he dedicated the win to Argentine team-mate Maximiliano Richeze, who had had a positive dope test just days earlier.
© AFP 2009
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