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TOUR OF SPAIN

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Italy’s Caruso suspended after positive test

Italian veteran Giampaolo Caruso is out of the Tour of Spain after being provisionally suspended by cycling's world governing body the International Cycling Union (UCI) on Tuesday after a sample provided in 2012 was retested and found to contain EPO.

Published: 19 August 2015 07:37 CEST
Italy's Caruso suspended after positive test
Italian veteran Giampaolo Caruso is out of the Tour of Spain. Photo: Javier Soriano/AFP

The test of the 35-year-old journeyman took place out of competition in March 2012 and after being recently reanalyzed using new scientific methods was found to contain the banned blood booster.

The UCI has a policy of stocking and retesting results going back ten years.

“The strategy, implemented by the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF), provides that samples from the leaders of the Grand Tours, UCI World Championships and general rankings of all cycling disciplines will be stored for potential retesting,” the UCI said in a statement.

“Other samples, based on risk assessment carried out by the CADF, laboratory recommendations, Athlete Biological Passport data, new detection methods and scientific developments, will also be retained for retesting. The standard time of storage and further reanalysis under this strategy is up to 10 years.”

The Katusha team for which Caruso has competed since 2012, said they would await the result of the 'B' sample before taking any measures.

The Russian team had selected the Sicilian for the upcoming Tour of Spain which gets underway this weekend.

Caruso, who started his professional career in 2002 with the Spanish ONCE team, finished fourth in the one day classic Liege-Bastogne-Liege race last April.

The Italian's best result in a major Tour was 12th in the 2006 Giro d'Italia.

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CYCLING

Swiss rider dies after fall into ravine on Tour of Switzerland

Swiss rider Gino Maeder has died from the injuries he sustained when he plunged into a ravine during a stage of the Tour of Switzerland, his team Bahrain-Victorious said on Friday.

Published: 16 June 2023 12:54 CEST
Swiss rider dies after fall into ravine on Tour of Switzerland

Maeder, 26, fell during a high-speed descent on the fifth stage between Fiesch and La Punt on Thursday, after an exhausting day marked by three ascents over 2,000 metres altitude.

He had been found “lifeless in the water” of a ravine below the road, “immediately resuscitated then transported to the hospital in Chur by air”, organisers said.

But the next day, “Gino lost his battle to recover from the serious injuries he sustained,” Bahrain-Victorious said in a statement.

“It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we must announce the passing of Gino Mäder,” his team wrote in a statement.

“On Friday June 16th, following a very serious fall during the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse, Gino lost his fight to recover from the serious injuries he had suffered. Our entire team is devastated by this tragic accident, and our thoughts and prayers are with Gino’s family and loved ones at this incredibly difficult time.”

“Despite the best efforts of the phenomenal staff at Chur hospital, Gino couldn’t make it through this, his final and biggest challenge, and at 11:30am we said goodbye to one of the shining lights of our team,” the team said in a statement.

Maeder had enjoyed a strong start to the season, finishing fifth in the Paris-Nice race.

American rider Magnus Sheffield also fell on the same descent from Albula, during the most difficult stage of the race with multiple climbs. The Ineos-Grenadiers rider was hospitalised with “bruises and concussion,” organisers said.

On Thursday, world champion Remco Evenepoel criticised the decision to compete on such a dangerous road.

“While a summit finish would have been perfectly possible, it wasn’t a good decision to let us finish down this dangerous descent,” the Belgian wrote on Twitter.

“As riders, we should also think about the risks we take going down a mountain.”

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