CONI recommends year ban for Petacchi, out of Tour

Guardian Unlimited Sport | Petacchi faces one-year ban, set to miss Tour

The Italian Olympic committee recommends a 1-year ban on super sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, after Petacchi tested high for the asthma medication salbutamol in May.

Petacchi, who won 5 stages of this year's Giro d'Italia, holds a “therapeutic use exemption,” or TUE, for the otherwise banned substance. With a TUE, he is presumed innocent with salbutamol levels of up to 1,000 nanograms/millileter, but one test reported a level of 1,320 nanograms/millileter. Petacchi pled his case with an official of CONI, the Italian Olympic committee, on Monday.

Petacchi is the leader of the Milram Tour team, which is largely built around delivering him to the front of the pack with 200 meters to the finish line of the race's flat stages.

In light of the recommendation, Milram removed Petacchi from its provisional Tour roster, replacing him with Andrey Grivko of Ukraine.

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VeloNews | Doping charge costs Petacchi his Tour berth