The peloton at the Giro d'Italia (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Unlike the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia organizers will not re-test riders' samples from this spring's Giro d'Italia for the Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator (CERA) version of EPO.
"The Giro d'Italia has already made the necessary checks," said race director Angelo Zomegnan to the Apcom news agency on Thursday. "The labs and the UCI have told us these tests were done and nothing was found that could be taken as suspect. It's useless to ask for more [tests]."
Saunier Duval's Riccardo Riccò and his teammate Leonardo Piepoli tested positive for CERA at this summer's Tour de France. At the Giro, Riccò won two stages and finished second in the general classification. He has already been suspended by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) for a period of two years.
Zomegnan said the tests for CERA began during the Giro due to a partnership between a CONI anti-doping lab in Rome and the French Chatenay-Malabry lab near Paris. "To me, it seems excessive to ask for more," Zomegnan said.
Earlier this week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said its samples from the Olympic Games in Beijing will be re-tested for EPO CERA.
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