- HOT TOPICS:
- An American start for the Giro? •
- 2010 Routes: Giro | California | TdF •
- LA doc guilty on all counts
Sacchi suspended after substances found in Sunday search
Saeco's Fabio Sacchi -- one of six riders who had their hotel rooms and homes searched by anti-doping investigators in Rieti, Italy on Sunday -- has been suspended by his team following the “presumed discovery of illegal performance enhancing drugs” in the search of his home.
Police have also announced that Sacchi and the other five riders -- Italians Stefano Casagranda, Davide Rebellin, Davide Casarotto, Endrio Leoni and Slovenian Gorazd Stengelj – have been placed under formal judicial investigation.
Padua prosecutor Paola Cameran, who is conducting one of two judicial probes into last year's Giro d'Italia scandal, has added the names of the six riders to the list of those already under her scrutiny, bringing the total number to 50 in that inquiry. All are suspected of violating law 376, which governs doping in sport.
Cameran announced that substances believed to help the production of testosterone were reportedly found in at least one of the homes that were searched, though she did not specify in which of the homes the drugs were found.That question, however, was answered soon after, when the Saeco team issued a press release announcing Sacchi’s suspension “Taking note of the presumed discovery of illegal performance enhancing drugs in the home of Fabio Sacchi, the Saeco Macchine per Caffe' -Longoni Sport team today notified the rider of an precautionary suspension from racing, with a consequential freezing of all wages,” the release stated.
”In the communication of the suspension given to the athlete it has been specified that the revocation of the steps taken will only be possible when his position regarding the matter has been totally and completely clarified, it continued. “In case of the opposite -as forseen in the contracts agreed between the Saeco Macchine per Caffe team and its riders, the team will take steps to dismiss the rider.”
Earlier this month it emerged that Cameran had authorized the use of hidden recordings in a bid to get to the bottom of the doping scandal relating to the Giro scandal of last year after police searches on the premises of every competing cyclist at San Remo yielded evidence that doping was still rife in the sport.
Florence magistrate Luigi Bocciolini is conducting the other probe into that scandal.
Some 101 people have been placed under investigation in Bocciolini's probe although only 53 have been identified.
AFP contributed to this report
