Former Giro winner is cleared to race but must pay up before he is allowed to do so
Danilo Di Luca may have been cleared to race by the Italian Anti-doping Tribunal (TNA), but he will not be allowed back until he has paid the €280,000 fine slapped on him by the International Cycling Union (UCI), according to DePers.nl. The fine was imposed back in February when the Italian was handed his two-year ban and must be paid in full before Di Luca is permitted to pin a number on his back.
The UCI will be particularly keen to pursue this particular fine as it has been stung in recent days by the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) ruling that Alexandre Vinokourov was not liable under the “riders’ commitment for a new cycling”. The CAS ruled that the document signed in July 2007 by the Kazakh was little more than a PR exercise and had no standing in law; the UCI was also force to concede today that the verdict also applied to Michael Rasmussen.
Di Luca’s case differs from Vinokourov and Rasmussen though, in that his offences were committed after January 1st 2009. Since that date fines of up to 70% of a rider’s salary can be applied as well as bans and the legal issues applying to the other cases do not apply here.
The 2007 Giro d’Italia winner has been handed by far the biggest fine of any suspended rider, although this is probably because he is by far the highest paid rider to be banned under the new rules. Spanish rider Mikel Astarloza had almost half the amount imposed, at €154,566.57, while Polish under-23 cyclocross rider Pawel Szczepaniak has been fined just 750 CHF; although Szczepaniak was handed an eight year ban.
There is speculation in the Dutch press as to how much Thomas Dekker might be fined, as there is currently no amount listed against his name in the UCI database. The Dutchman may escape financial penalty though, since many of his infractions took place before he new rules came into force.
Di Luca is widely rumoured to be bound for Mauro Gianetti’s Geox-TMC tem (currently Footon-Servetto), although he was linked with a possible move to Lampre-Farnese Vini earlier in the year.