Franco Pellizotti acquitted
Italian rider Franco Pellizotti was provisionally suspended by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) on 3 May of this year due to suspicious values in his biological passport.
He was unable to ride in any of the Grand Tours with Liquigas, who went on to bring Vincenzo Nibali to an overall victory at the Vuelta a Espana.
"I’m very satisfied with this outcome and it couldn’t be any different than my name being cleared. But it has ruined my whole season and I’ll ask the UCI to pay for the damages."
The Italian won the king-of-the-mountain jersey in the 2009 Tour de France and finished second in the Giro d’Italia in the same year.
The case first moved from the UCI to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), then to the Italian anti-doping tribunal. The anti-doping court rejected CONI’s recommendation of a two-year ban "...because there [weren’t] enough elements to prove the cyclist guilty
of blood manipulation."
"CONI let me down. But I remain confident."
Paolo Dal Lago, president of Liquigas confirmed that Pellizotti was welcome back at the team even before the case was closed, while announcing the signing of Ivan Basso and Vincenzo Nibali for two more years.
Liquigas and the team doctor Roberto Corsetti stood behind the rider’s innocence throughout the proceedings.
The UCI will have the opportunity to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. They named three irregularities in 22 controls, the first in December of 2008 and the other two in the summer of 2009, before the Tour de France. Pellizotti’s lawyers said
that the irregularities were a normal reaction to altitude training and end-of-season inactivity.
Tadej Valjavec was charged similarly by the UCI and that case was dismissed by the Slovenian court. The UCI is appealing that decision.
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