CONI wants four years for Priamo

The prosecutor of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) anti-doping tribunal has asked for a four-year suspension for Matteo Priamo (CSF Group Navigare) for violating the World Anti-doping Agency code, the organisation announced Friday. Priamo is charged with violating section 2.8 of the code which prohibits "assisting, encouraging, aiding, abetting, covering up or any other type of complicity involving anti-doping rule violation or any attempted violation".

Priamo was named by teammate Emanuelle Sella as his supplier of the drug CERA, for which Sella tested positive last summer in an out-of-competition control. Sella admitted to using the drug, and was given a one-year ban after cooperating with authorities.

Priamo won stage six of the 2008 Giro d'Italia, while Sella won three, during which there was no test for CERA. The UCI refused to carry out retrospective testing on the samples from that event after a test was developed in time for the Tour de France.