The Italian anti-doping tribunal (TNA) will decided Franco Pellizotti's future today in Rome. The Italian faces a likely two-year suspension for adverse biological passport readings leading up to the 2009 Tour de France, where he won the mountains classification.
After reviewing the case, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) recommended a two-year suspension on July 29. It passed its recommendation on to the TNA, as is customary, to make a ruling.
"CONI let me down," said Pellizotti three months ago, "but I remain confident."
CONI reviewed the case after the International Cycling Union (UCI) announced on May 3 that Pellizotti's passport showed irregularities. Its announcement stopped Pellizotti riding the Giro d'Italia and allowed his young Liquigas team-mate, Vincenzo Nibali a chance to shine.
The biological passport offers a way to signal doping without a traditional positive test. Scientists can plot blood and urine readings over time to be able to recognise irregularities.
The UCI had 22 controls to plot, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport. Three of those controls stood out: one on December 12, 2008, at Pellizotti's home in Treviso, one on April 15, 2009, at a training camp in Tenerife, Spain, and one on July 2, 2009, at the start of the Tour de France in Monaco.
Pellizotti won the mountains classification at that Tour de France ahead of Egoi Martínez, and finished second on stage nine to Tarbes.
When asked by the UCI this March, Pellizotti failed to offer a sufficient explanation for the irregularities. However, his lawyers question the validly of the biological passport and point out that results vary naturally based on altitude training or inactivity.
Based on irregular passport results, the TNA suspended Italians Francesco De Bonis and Pietro Caucchioli in May. In Slovenia, though, a similar case involving cyclist Tadej Valjavec was dismissed. Valjavec has returned to racing with Ag2r-La Mondiale and the UCI has appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Depending on the Italian anti-doping tribunal's decision today, Pellizotti or the UCI will likely appeal the result to CAS.