The International Cycling Union (UCI) has confirmed this morning’s report from la Gazzetta dello Sport that Danilo Di Luca (Vini Fantini-Selle Italia) did indeed return a positive sample for EPO, and is provisionally suspended. The positive sample was collected from the 37-year-old “Killer of Spoltore” on April 29th, just three days after he had signed for the giallo fluo team, which was also the day that it was announced that Di Luca was to ride the Giro d’Italia one last time.
The UCI confirms that Di Luca has been provisionally suspended until he appears before a disciplinary panel of the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI), and has the right to “request and attend” the analysis of his B-sample.
Di Luca’s sample was sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory in Köln (Cologne), Germany, rather than one more local. The Köln lab was in the headlines in September 2010 after it detected the trace amount of Clenbuterol in a sample provided by Alberto Contador in that year’s Tour de France. The amount - 50 picograms - was 400 time smaller than a WADA accredited lab was required to be able to detect but, despite its minuscule concentration, the mere presence of the drug warranted a two-year ban.
The UCI statement reads as follows:
Danilo Di Luca provisionally suspended
This morning the UCI advised Italian rider Danilo Di Luca that he is provisionally suspended. The decision to provisionally suspend this rider was made in response to a report from the WADA accredited laboratory in Köln indicating an Adverse Analytical Finding of EPO in a urine sample collected from him in an out of competition test on 29 April 2013.
The provisional suspension of Mr. Danilo Di Luca remains in force until a hearing panel convened by the Italian Cycling Federation determines whether he has committed an anti-doping rule violation under Article 21 of the UCI Anti-Doping Rules.
Mr. Danilo Di Luca has the right to request and attend the analysis of his B sample.
Under the World Anti-Doping Code and the UCI Anti-Doping Rules, the UCI is unable to provide any additional information at this time.