Di Luca banned for life by CONI

The anti-doping tribunal of the Italian Olympic Committee has given Danilo Di Luca a lifetime ban from the sport following his positive doping test for EPO ahead of this year's Giro d'Italia, CONI announced today.

Di Luca was also fined €35,000 and must pay €850 for the costs of the proceedings, as well as the costs of the lab analysis, which is 3,150 CHF.

The 37-year-old Italian was brought into the Vini Fantini squad in February of this year. He tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition control taken on April 29, but the news of the result did not break until the third week of the Giro d'Italia. His teammate Mauro Santambrogio also tested positive for EPO in a sample taken on stage 1 the race.

The positive was Di Luca's third doping offence: he served a three-month ban in the 'Oil for Drugs' investigation in 2007, and then tested positive for EPO CERA at the 2009 Giro d'Italia. He was given a reduced ban of 15 months for cooperating with the authorities.