ITALIAN RIDER DIEGO ULISSI, who won two stages of this year’s Giro d’Italia, failed a drugs test during the race, his team Lampre confirmed on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old returned a positive test for salbutamol, a drug used to treat asthma, during the 11th stage on May 21 at Savone.
Lampre said that Ulissi had revealed to testers at the time that he had two puffs of ventolin containing salbutamol as well as paracetamol, following a fall during the stage.
The Tuscan rider has been suspended by his team pending the analysis of his B sample.
“Ulissi strongly rejects the presence of such a large amount of salbutamol,” the team said in a statement.
Riders are permitted to use the drug for medical purposes below a certain threshold, but Ulissi’s sample contained almost twice the permitted concentration.
The statement continued: “The results of the test from the UCI report the presence in the urine of the athlete of an abnormal amount of salbutamol (1900 ng/ml), higher than the limit allowed by the regulations, which sees the limit at 1000 ng/ml.
“The athlete himself and the medical staff of the team will continue to explore the reasons why the urine has been identified as having an abnormal and high presence of salbutamol, compared to only two inhalations performed.”
Ulissi won the fifth stage at Viggiano and the eighth at Montecopiolo, but quit the race after the 17th stage.
Pity it’s nearly over. It was brilliant.
These games were fantastic. Helped me forget about the doom and gloom for a bit over the last two weeks. Loved the swimming,the track events& cycling Bolt and Co were amazing. And of course our own team did a great job. Hopefully it will inspire kids out there and bring pride back to this country.
I really enjoyed the games! Thought after the amazing opening ceremony everything that followed would be a let down but by god I was wrong! Absolutely loved watching the sports, some of which I had never seen before! London did good, it has to be said! And well done and congrats to all who flew the flag for Ireland! Ye all did us proud!(“,)
Great two weeks of entertainment and a chance to forget the doom and gloom. Just shows what a bit of success can do for our national sense of well being. We really needed the lift. Hope it’s not spoilt by petty wrangling over money and unnecessary interference by politicians. Best moments were of course Katie Taylor and the boxers and other great performances by Annalise Murphy, Cian O Connor, Rob Heffernan and Gavin Noble. A sport I had never seen before was the dressage and I found it fascinating. Horses can dance! Amazing!
Sweden playing France in the Handball not the Volleyball !
Two sports we do not Care about either way! Volleyball is only good if played on a beach by cute women ;)
What about the boxing officials sent hope and Russia saying boxing is fixed ???
And let’s not forget the thousands of Irish fans that made it over to London for the games, who otherwise might not have been able to go if it was halfway across the world, it probably is the closest we will ever have to a HOME GAMES so that has been fantastic, London should be proud of the games they have put on.