Dope happens

[Brock Samson]

Tour de France - Petacchi to get one year ban
Eurosport - Wed, 04 Jul 17:35:00 2007
Cyclist Alessandro Petacchi faces a one-year ban after a dope test showed excessive levels of salbutamol during this year's Giro d'Italia, the Italian Olympic Committee has said.

Petacchi, who looks set to miss the Tour de France starting on Saturday, told a two-hour doping hearing on Monday he had a medical certificate to use a set amount of salbutamol in his asthma inhaler and that any overuse was simply an oversight.

But the Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping prosecutor, Ettore Torri, decided he was still culpable and has asked cycling authorities to give the 33-year-old Milram rider a one-year ban. A two-year suspension is the maximum sentence.

The ban has to be rubber-stamped by the Italian Cycling Federation, which could take some time, but his hopes of beginning the Tour in London in three days time now look shattered.

"I tried to explain my case scientifically and the good faith in which it happened," the Italian sprinter said after Monday's hearing. "The Tour? It depends on the prosecutor."

Giro winner Danilo Di Luca is scheduled to appear before Torri a week on Saturday as part of a separate inquiry connected to a 2004 police investigation into possible doping. Di Luca has said he has nothing to hide.

[TNT1]

Another non starter for the TDF... Sucks to be a pro cyclist these days... All this cr@p makes me almost ashamed and embarrassed to be associated with the sport. Nearly every day now I really have to force myself to get on the bike, and more often than not, I seriously consider hanging up my wheels.

Just a question, why don't we see athletes in other sports being persecuted in this manner? Doping is just as, if not more, rife in other sports. What gives?