Former world champion Zinaida Stahurskaya has been banned for two years for doping. The 34 year-old Belarusian tested positive at three European races last year - once to anabolic steroid stanozolol and twice to hormone testosterone.
"It is regrettable, but we believe that it will teach her a good lesson," Belarus cycling coach Anatoly Miklashevich told AP on Monday. Stahurskaya, who is currently training in Italy, won the 2000 world road race title and the women's edition of the Tour de France in 2002. It is not her first positive test for doping substances, nor her first suspension: At the Giro d'Italia Femminile in 2001, she returned a positive test for a diuretic, and at the Circuito di Massarosa in 2003, for ephedrine. She was out of competition for four and two months respectively.
