doping

Kacper Szczepaniak, who finished second to his brother Pawel in January’s Under-23 World Cyclo-cross Championships has reportedly tried to take his own life following last week’s revelations that the pair had tested positive for Recombinant EPO after the race in Tabor, Czech Republic.

The 25-year-old Dutch cyclist Thomas Dekker has been banned for two years by the Monaco cycling federation (FMC), the body which holds the license of the cyclist, according to press reports in the Netherlands.

Dekker was suspended by Silence-Lotto shortly just days before last year’s Tour de France got under way in Monaco after it was revealed that traces of a previously undetectable type of EPO had been discovered in the re-test of a sample originally taken from the rider in December 2007, when he was still with Rabobank.

Better intelligence and insider tip-offs will be key to the fight against doping in sport, including cycling, the UK Anti-Doping Agency has said.

At a seminar this week, UK Anti-Doping chief executive Andy Parkinson said the agency was focusing more and more on intelligence.

"There's a whole lot of information out there that we get on a day-to-day basis," he said.

Mr Parkinson credited a combination of intelligence, targeting and co-operation with sports scientists for helping secure the first positive test for Human Growth Hormone (HGH).

An American cyclist who was a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency witness against disgraced Tour de France Floyd Landis in 2007 has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute human growth hormone he imported from China.

Joe Papp, 34, of Pittsburg, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to sell HGH and Erythropoietin, or EPO, over the Internet.

He faces up to five years in prison on each of the charges when he's sentenced June 25.

Italy’s anti-doping authorities have hit Danilo di Luca with a two-year ban and fined the cyclist €280,000 as a result of his testing positive for CERA following two stages of last year’s Giro d’Italia.

Di Luca, who spent eight days last May in the race leader’s maglia rosa, which he had won in 2007, finished second in the race, 41 seconds behind Rabobank’s Denis Menchov, but details of his positive result were revealed in July, causing him to be provisionally suspended by the UCI.

Bike Pure, the organisation commited to promoting a drug-free future for cycle sport, has announced that it has secured a partnership with the 2010 edition of the Asia’s leading bike race, Le Tour de Langkawi, which takes place in Malaysia from 1-7 March, starting in Kota Bharu and finishing in Kuala Lumpur.

Tom Zirbel, the American time trial specialist who finished a surprise fourth behind Fabian Cancellara in the discipline at this year’s UCI World Championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland, has announced that he has tested positive for the banned steroid, DHEA.

Police in Spain have made 11 arrests in connection with an alleged doping ring and are questioning suspects regarding offences connected with doping in sport.

According to Spanish newspaper El Pais, the investigation, begun in August and codenamed Grial, revolves around one of those arrested, Walter Viru, formerly doctor to the Kelme pro cycling team.

Floyd Landis, the only man ever to top the Tour de France podium in Paris and later be stripped of his title, has left the OUCH-Maxxis team and is eyeing a return to top-flight European racing.

A statement from the team’s management company, Momentum Sports Group (MSG) said that the cyclist and OUCH-Maxxis had parted company by mutual consent, adding that "For the 2010 season, Landis expressed to MSG that he desires to ride the longer, tougher stage races offered in Europe and internationally that better suit his strengths.”

Davide Rebellin, the Italian cyclist who finished second to Spain’s Samuel Sanchez in last year’s Olympic Road Race in Beijing, has been ordered to hand his silver medal back by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), according to the Gazzetta dello Sport.