Former Tour de France winner Marco Pantani has been cleared of sporting fraud for a case of doping during the 1999 Giro d’Italia, by a court in Trentino on Thursday.

Pantani was charged after high hematocrit levels were found in his blood on the penultimate day of the 1999 Giro d’Italia. The hematocrit limit was imposed in 1997 as an indicator that a rider might be using the endurance-enhancing drug EPO.

The Italian, winner of both the Giro and Tour de France in 1998, had already served a six-month ban for his failed drugs test but faced prosecution charges as doping in Italy is a criminal offence.

Pantani also hit the headlines when a syringe, containing insulin was found in his bedroom during last year's Giro d’Italia.

For that offence he was initially banned for eight months in June 2002 by the Italian Cycling Federation, but later won an appeal due to an absence of proof.

Cycling's world ruling body, the Union Cycliste Internationale failed to convince the Court of Arbitration for Sport to reinstate the ban, allowing Pantani to get back on his bike in March of this year.
Copyright AFP2003