Italian faces suspension under blood passport rules
Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) on the podium. (Image credit: Sirotti)
The Italian Olympic Committee's Anti-doping prosecutor has officially recommended a two-year suspension for Franco Pellizotti for violation of the WADA Anti-doping code.
The 32-year-old was provisionally suspended by his Liquigas-Doimo team in May after the UCI announced that it had detected abnormal values in the profile of Pellizotti's blood passport.
The irregularities date back to a sample taken after he placed second in the 2009 Giro d'Italia and before the 2009 Tour de France, where Pellizotti won the mountains classification and was voted most aggressive rider.
He learned of the UCI's results in May just before this year's Giro d'Italia.
The CONI also recommended Pellizotti be responsible for costs associated with managing the result.
Pellizotti has insisted that he has not doped, and his lawyers claim there were only two irregular values out of 22 samples, one in November 2008 and a second on July 2, 2009.
The case now goes to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
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