Leonardo Piepoli

October 6th, 2008 filed in Cycling

Leonardo Piepoli, the Italian Cyclist who was fired by his team Saunier Duval during the Tour de France, has now tested positive for CERA. Piepoli’s samples from the Tour were retested last week and came back positive for CERA, an advanced version of the blood booster EPO. Piepoli won Stage 10 of the Tour de France, on July 14th. His two positive tests results were from July 4th and July 15th.

Piepoli, and his teammate Riccardo Ricco, were both dominate on climbs in the early part of the Tour, and both were fired from the team after Ricco’s positive. The Italian Cyclist has been summoned to a hearing on Friday by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), which just last week suspended Ricco for two years. It has been reported that Piepoli was fired from his team after confessing to the CERA usage. Piepoli had previously tested positive for Salbutamol in May of 2007 however the UCI summary of ‘Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2007′ stated that he was “Acquitted due to medical reason.”