Petacchi dropped for Tour de France after doping charge
Alessandro Petacchi will not be starting in London (Tim de Waele ©)
Italian cyclist Alessandro Petacchi has been barred from competing in the Tour de France by his Milram team after being charged with doping by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) on Wednesday.
Petacchi, who had been provisionally suspended by Milram last week, will be replaced by Ukrainian Andriy Grivko for the world's biggest cycling race which gets underway in London on Saturday."We've signed the ProTour's ethical code and by virtue of this code a rider suspected of resorting to doping cannot compete in a race," Milram general manager Gerry van Gerwen said.
CONI's anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri has requested the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) ban the 33-year-old sprinter for one year.
Petacchi delivered a "non-negative" doping test after the third of his five stage wins at the Giro d'Italia. The urine sample he gave at Pinerolo on May 23 showed an unusually high level of salbutamol, a substance primarily used to treat asthma. Salbutamol is a banned substance but riders suffering from asthma are allowed restricted use of the drug if they can provide a medical certificate. Petacchi has such a certificate having suffered from asthma for many years.
Petacchi's urine sample taken at Pinerolo was the only one of the five doping tests he gave that showed an excessive amount of salbutamol.
Last month Petacchi's fellow Italian Ivan Basso, one of the favourites for the Tour de France, was given a a two-year ban for his involvement in the Operation Puerto blood-doping scandal. In addition, Italian pair Danilo Di Luca and Eddy Mazzoleni are suspected of having ties to a doctor suspected of drug trafficking and will be seen by CONI next week.
Petacchi, who did not compete in last year's Tour de France because of a knee injury, won four stages in the 2003 race.
© AFP 2007
User Comments
There are 4 comments on this post
Showing 1 - 4 of 4 comments
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SandyB
Posted Wed 4 Jul, 7:05 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
This is plain stupid. There's no need for sophisticated rebuttal. It's stupid.
I am asthmatic. If I use Ventolin, and one spray is not enough, I do it again. Even a third time, depending on the weather.
No way is there a need to measure this dosage. It's to breathe, and any asthmatic will tell you that you get nothing more than back to normal. No performance enhancement.
From this travesty - there is no better description - it's time the riders just sat out a race or ten and got rid of this abomination of WADA storm troopers once and for all.
This comment is not sophisticated or flowery. It is as brutal as the moronic administration of anti-doping programs.
See you on the roads of the TdF, if it ever gets going this year.
Sandy
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LucienStorme
Posted Thu 5 Jul, 4:54 am UTC Flag as inappropriate
I'm not sure it's quite as simple as that Sandy - the level Peat scored was above the threshold, even for theraputic use exemptions, kicking him into the realm of "innocent? prove it".
Any buses in the area should beware: the gentleman sprinter is having a bad day...
http://www.men-in-tights.blogspot.com
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SandyB
Posted Thu 5 Jul, 8:43 am UTC Flag as inappropriate
Lucien - sorry, but some things ARE that simple. With all the concern about the doping going on, almost no attention is paid to the health of the riders. TUE's are there for a purpose, but dosages and specimen limits are irrational, if the real concern is to have healthy riders in races. In my experience, needing to inhale Ventolin tells me that the day will not be a good one, even after dosing. Identifying this kind of drug as performance enhacing is a complete mislabeling. One's best hope, after such medication, is to be not worse than on a mediocre day. Overdoing THIS kind of medication is more likely to cause a reduced performance.
Yes, that simple.
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LucienStorme
Posted Thu 5 Jul, 12:15 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
Look, I don't even know where to begin. "Identifying this kind of drug as performance enhacing is a complete mislabeling." Salbutamol is on the watch list because it was being used as a masking agent - raised levels (above 1000ng/ml apparently, though i don't know what that means) merely triggers a process in which the rider must demonstrate that use was theraputic. It is not a 'positive' test for "performance enhancing" drugs, but CAN be part of the use of such. Sure, the tests, rules and whatever are flawed, but hey, rules are rules, and without em I think the sport would be even worse off than it already is. Hence the process. Hence no Peta on le tour. Hence I'm bored.
http://www.men-in-tights.blogspot.com
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