Di Luca still faces fine of €280,000

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The UCI has announced that Danilo Di Luca will still have to pay a fine of €280,000 for the doping offence that has seen him forced out of competition since July 22, 2009.

His double positive test came during the 2009 Giro d'Italia, which fell after January 1 that year and hence the UCI's new ruling on financial penalties for doping infractions applies to the 34-year-old.

Riders who commit a doping offence after that date can expect a fine of up to 70 percent of their salary for that year; the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) had announced that his initial fine of €280,000 was being reduced to €106,400 but the UCI ruling means he'll be forced to pay the original amount.

Spanish riders Mikel Astarloza, Alberto Fernandez and Inigo Landaluze will also be forced to pay €155,000, €42,000 and €27,000 respectively for their misdemeanours, all committed after the January 1, 2009 cut off.

Meanwhile, it was recently announced that neither Alexandre Vinokourov or Michael Rasmussen will face a financial penalty for falling foul of anti-doping stipulations, which forced both riders out of the 2007 Tour de France. Vinkourov was found to have used blood doping to win the stage 13 time trial in Albi, which was later awared to Cadel Evans.

Rasmussen, meanwhile, was found to have lied about his whereabouts in the months leading up to the Tour, forcing Rabobank team management to exclude the Dane from the race. He hasn't returned to ProTour racing while Vinokourov won stage 13 of this year's Tour de France.

Another rider potentially still facing a fine is Thomas Dekker, the Dutchman who returned a positive sample for EPO in 2007; it's not yet known if he will be forced to pay a financial penalty for his infraction, as the original offence took place in 2007 but the results of the B-sample weren't published until 2009, possibly falling into the UCI juridiction mentioned above.