Team supports Scarponi

Michele Scarponi has been summoned to appear before the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) next week to answer questions about his possible involvement in the Operación Puerto doping scandal, but his team, Acqua & Sapone, isn't worried.

Team manager Palmiro Masciarelli said he was aware of Scarponi's connection to the case when he signed him for this season. "A month ago, CONI said there was no problem. And as far as we're concerned there is still no problem," Masciarelli told the AP. "He told me again that he's clean and that he's willing to undergo any sort of DNA test to show it."

The team has not suspended Scarponi, but "If something new comes out on May 2, then we'll see," according to the team manager.

Scarponi, 27, won a stage and the overall in the Coppi e Bartoli race last month, and is currently second overall in the Giro del Trentino.