Pasquale Muto tests positive for EPO

The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) has announced that Italian rider Pasquale Muto (Miche-Guerciotti) has tested positive for Erythropoietin in a test carried out after the Giro dell’Appennino on April 10.

Muto finished fifth in the one-day race near Genova, won by Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD).

Muto hails from Naples in the southern Campania region of Italy but spent most of his amateur career in Tuscany where he rode alongside the likes of Daniele Bennati, Yaroslav Popovych and Lorenzo Bernucci. He won nine races in 2003 and turned professional after spending the final months of the season as a stagiaire with the Panaria team.

He has been a professional with the Miche team since 2004 and won a stage of the Tour of Bulgaria in 2007 and a stage at the Tour of Slovakia in 2009. He finished 19th overall at the Vuelta Asturias on Monday, where teammates Stefan Schumacher and Constantino Zaballa won three of the six stages.

On his personal website (pasqualemuto.com) he writes: “An athlete’s career is an archipelago of satisfaction, scattered in a sea of fatigue and sacrifice. You should never let the difficulties get you down and you should never celebrate the victories too much. Staying humble and motivated is and always will be my challenge in sport.”