Italy's cycling federation today announced a suspension of competitive cycling in Italy until the sport has cleaned up its act following a doping scandal. The move only covers nationally sanctioned races, meaning the current drug-tainted Giro d'Italia, an internationally organised event, can continue.
After a three-hour meeting, Federciclismo said it would suspend all national competition from June 18 and maintain the block until an ethics body has carried out a full-blooded investigation of the sport and decided how to clean it up.
The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), a parent body of Federciclismo, called on Tuesday for a suspension following the doping fiasco which disrupted the Giro d'Italia last week. Cyclists from the Giro had rejected CONI's proposal, saying such a move would not rid the sport of dope cheats.
There were raids by drug squad officers at team hotels and Italy's Dario Frigo was thrown out of the three-week Giro d'Italia event by his Fassa Bortolo team when drugs were found in his hotel room.
He had been lying in second place in the overall standings and led the race for eight stages. Some 200 drug squad officers from Florence searched the hotel rooms of all the teams in the race, seizing a so far unspecified amount of drugs.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
