Cycling: Italy's Riccardo Chiarini (Torpado), who finished fourth at this year's Absa Cape Epic with his partner, Belgian Roel Paulissen, has tested positive for EPO.
The Italian (photo on the right), who won the fifth stage of the world's most difficult mountain bike stage race together with Paulissen, tested positive on May 7th at a training control as a result of his data from the biological passport. As the race's website reports, his employer, the Italian bike manufacturer Torpado, has already been informed of the finding by the UCI. Chiarini has since been suspended.
If the finding is confirmed, Chiarini will probably face a two-year ban. However, he will no longer be able to take part in the Absa Cape Epic. The organizers impose lifetime bans on people who have been associated with doping during their career.