Petacchi gets CAS date

Alessandro Petacchi will have his next day in court on March 12, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, will hear appeals concerning his "non-negative" doping test from the 2007 Giro d'Italia. Both the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) have appealed the Italian Cycling Federation's dismissal of the charges.

The Team Milram sprinter tested positive for Salbutamol after his stage win on Stage 11 of last year's Giro. Petacchi, who is asthmatic, has a medical use exemption for the medication. The acceptable limit is 100 ng/L but he was said to have tested for 1320 ng/L.

Petacchi was not suspended by Team Milram but did not race for a period over the summer, missing the Tour de France. CONI recommended that he be suspended for a year, but the Italian federation rejected this and allowed Petacchi to return to racing.

CONI announced at the end of August that it would appeal that decision, while WADA announced in October that it would also appeal the ruling.