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20 year ban in total for ex-Lampre rider Lorenzo Bernucci AND his family

Former Tour de France stage winner's career effectively ended by five-year ban...

The national antidoping tribunal of CONI, the Italian national Olympic committee has hit former Lampre and Fasso Bartolo rider Lorenzo Bernucci and his family with a combined ban of 20 years for involvement in doping, including a five-year ban for the cyclist himself.

The sprinter had been charged in connection with the enquiry into doping within Italian cycling focused on the Lampre team and conducted by Padua-based magistrate Roberto Benedetti, and officers from the Guardia di Finanza had found the banned substances perflourocarbon and human albumin in a search of his home.

Further investigation including searches and intercepted telephone calls led to charges also being brought against Bernucci’s wife, mother and father-in-law, who have each received a four-year ban from any involvement with sport, while his brother has received a three-year ban, although Bernucci himself has always denied that his family had any connection with his use of performance enhancing drugs.

Bernucci, winner of Stage 6 of the 2005 Tour de France, was sacked by T-Mobile in September 2007 following a positive test for Sibutramine, although he said he hadn't known that the medication, which he had been using for four years, had been banned in 2006. Now, however, at 32 years of age, Bernucci's five-year ban almost certainly means that his career is effectively over.

His former team mate Alessandro Petacchi, winner of the green jersey at last summer’s Tour de France, was told during that race that he had been formally placed under investigation as part of Benedetti’s enquiry, although no charges have yet been brought against him.

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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cat1commuter | 13 years ago
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That's because it is Italy, not Spain.

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mrmo | 13 years ago
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a five year ban? and Contador gets 12months....

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