Priamo given four-year suspension

Italian Matteo Priamo has been handed a four-year suspension by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The rider, who rode with CSF-Navigare in 2008, was accused of doping, as well as supplying EPO-CERA to his then-teammate Emanuele Sella.

The CAS has therefore upheld the suspension request made by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) in January. The Italian National anti-doping Tribunal (TNA) in Rome exonerated Priamo of the charges, but CONI filed an appeal with CAS in April.

"The CAS panel in charge of this case has upheld the appeal and has declared the athlete ineligible for a period of four years, commencing on 27 February 2009. Contrary to the findings of the TNA, the CAS panel considered that a violation of Articles 2.6 and 2.8 of the World anti-doping code (possession of prohibited substances and administration to any athlete of any prohibited substance) was sufficiently established to declare that Matteo Priamo was guilty of an anti-doping violation," read a CONI press release, issued on Thursday.

Sella confessed to using the drug and was given a reduced one-year suspension in December for cooperating with the anti-doping authorities. He named Priamo as his supplier.

Priamo won stage six of the 2008 Giro d'Italia, where his teammate Sella won three mountain stages and the mountains classification. Sella tested positive for EPO-CERA in an out-of-competition control in August 2008. He returned to competition in August this year at the Tre Valli Varesine with Italian continental squad Carmiooro Style-A.

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