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Cycling-Let's have a new beginning, says Polti

By Mike Price

APRICA, Italy, June 5 - Cycling reeled under new controversy on Saturday after race leader and favourite Marco Pantani was thrown of the Giro d'Italia for failing a blood test.

As the shock waves reverberated, leading sponsor Franco Polti called for a new beginning.

"Let's stop the sport for a year and talk about all the problems. Then begin again from zero."

After seeing his rider Ivan Gotti take over the Giro leader's pink jersey forfeited by Pantani, he said: "On Friday I spent three hours talking with Hein Verbruggen (president of the Union Cycliste Internationale) and he doesn't give any clear answers about the problem."

Blood tests were introduced two years ago to safeguard riders' health although they also act as a check on EPO usagae.

Pantani's sample registered two per cent more than the 50 per cent maximum of haematocrit (red blood cells). He has now lost the chance of a back-to-back Giro victory and cannot race for 15 days until he passes a new test.

Crowds chanted his name on Saturday and hastily-made posters supported their absent hero, winner of last year's drug-tainted Tour de France.

Verbruggen said on Saturday: "It is the hardest sport there is and it is very commercial. Those factors bring pressure so obviously there is more doping in cycling than any other sport. Today was a dramatic day for the Giro and for cycling."

But he added: "It is, however, not doping in Pantani's case. It is only the health checks that we make daily.

"When we introduced them two years ago we wanted a limit of 53 per cent, not 50 per cent, because we know levels can change."

Saturday's shock news quickly spread round Europe with next month's Tour de France looming large.

Tour chief Jean-Marie Leblanc said: "I'm very sad for cycling. It proves there still are riders and doctors who have not understood we must get rid of the old habits."

Mercatone team doctor Roberto Rempi said he could not understand Pantani failing but speculated: "A change of temperature from heat to cold in two days may have affected his level.

"In the mountains riders drink less and this can dry out the body, and that could make a difference."

Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema even joined in, saying: "At this time I can imagine the bitterness felt by this great cyclist, a bitterness which I share. But I cannot say much more because I do not know the details of this case."

Pantani out of Giro after failing blood test

MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO, Italy, June 5 - Italian cycling hero Marco Pantani was disqualified from the Giro d'Italia on Saturday after failing a blood test.

Defending champion Pantani, who had been leading the Giro by five minutes 38 seconds, was among 10 riders given early morning tests by the International Cycling Union (UCI). He was the only one to fail.

The shaven-headed Pantani, last year's Tour de France winner, was thrown out of the 21st stage after his sample revealed a haematocrit level -- the percentage of red blood cells -- of above 50 percent.

Compatriot Paolo Savoldelli is the new leader, though he has refused to don the leader's pink jersey for Saturday's 21st stage.

Pantani's Mercatone Uno team immediately decided to boycott the penultimate 190-km stage in solidarity with its captain.

The man known in Italy as "Il Pirata" for his bald head, bandana and earring had seemed certain of claiming the 82nd Giro in Milan on Sunday.

A haematocrit reading above 50 percent means 15 days out of racing followed by a mandatory blood test at a Lausanne medical centre before the rider can compete again. The checks, introduced two years ago, are aimed at safeguarding riders' health and prevent use of a blood-enhancing agent that was at the centre of last year's Tour de France doping scandal.

Pantani, who tested negative earlier in the Giro, was not the first to fall foul of the blood testing on this tour, but he was certainly the most prominent.

His exclusion is a major blow for the hordes of fans who had lined his route to cheer him on to what promised to be an easy victory.

Il Pirata won the 20th stage of the Giro on Friday, finishing the 175 kms from Predazzo with more than a minute to spare over fellow Italian Massimo Codol.

His fans had looked to their slim hero to lift the sport again as it sagged under new allegations over drugs, arrests, and further questioning of leading figures in the Tour debacle.

Pantani claimed that he won "the cleanest" Tour de France last year because of police action against doping.

The hypodermic-brandishing efforts of the UCI, the Italian Cycling Federation and the Italian Olympic Committee had combined to produce what appeared to be a spotless Giro.

But riders had rebelled, saying there were too many medical controls -- a polite description of doping checks -- by too many organisations.

Pantani was one of the riders who protested last month at the sheer number of blood and urine tests.

"Any more and we will go home," he said then. "There is no respect for us. We have no privacy."

Pantani's racing future in doubt

By Mike Price

MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO, Italy, June 5 - Marco Pantani's racing future was in question on Saturday after his exclusion from the Giro d'Italia, just 48 hours from a repeat triumph.

Pantani failed a mandatory blood test at his hotel early on Saturday and was ordered out of the penultimate 21st stage to Aprica.

The shaven-headed Italian had carved out a lead of five minutes 38 seconds in the three-week race and looked poised for victory in Milan on Sunday.

His Mercatone Uno team mates did not start in protest and Paolo Savoldelli, second overall behind his compatriot overnight, refused to wear the Giro leader's pink jersey.

Pantani said in a television interview: ~I have come back several times in the past but it will be difficult to come back this time.

"I'm sorry for cycling, which again has paid an extremely high price, and I'm sorry for the fans. This time I think we've really hit bottom.

"I don't know what happened, I think there's something strange."

His sample was 52 percent, according to Giro sources, and the maximum limit for haematocrit (red blood cells) is 50 percent.

Mercatone's doctor Roberto Rempi said heat and altitude were the only possible explanations for the high haematocrit reading. "This is the third test Pantani had and there were no problems with the first two," he said.

Mercatone sports director Giuseppe Martinelli said: "All this seems excessive. It seems excessive to do tests just before the heavy Dolomites stage."

Pantani, who became only the seventh rider to complete a Tour de France and Giro double last year, cannot compete for 15 days. After that period he faces another blood test at the Lausanne headquarters of the governing International Cycling Union (UCI). If his haematocrit level has dropped below 50 percent then he can race again.

Blood tests were introduced by the UCI two years ago "to safeguard riders' health", but they also acted as a check on EPO usage.

"I cannot understand it. I had two tests in the past, and I had 46 percent when I had the pink jersey of Giro leader," Pantani said. But he did not make it clear whether these were official tests or those conducted by his team doctor.

Giro director Carmine Castellano said in a statement he "deeply regretted" Pantani's exclusion. But he added: "While acknowledging the seriousness of what has happened, the race organisers must stress that respecting the rules and protecting the athletes' health is to be placed above all else."

As the winner of four stages and race leader, Pantani would have also given urine samples at the daily anti-doping control.

Pantani said after his victory in France last year that he had won "the cleanest" Tour because of French police activities against doping.

Last year's Tour was thrown into disarray by a major drugs scandal.

It began with the arrest of Festina team employee Willi Voet before the Tour began. The car he was driving was found by to be carrying large amount of forbidden substances, including EPO.

The revelation led to the eventual expulsion of the Festina team and several arrests. French police cracked down to such a degree that there was a riders' strike and four Spanish teams quit the race.

Then Alex Zuelle, Armin Meier and Laurent Dufaux, the Swiss riders in the disgraced Festina team, confessed to using EPO, and each served a seven-month suspension.

The scandal has rumbled on with more arrests in France recently. This week, some team officials and riders were questioned in Paris.

Pantani's disqualification stunned thousands of spectators lining the roadside. Members of the Magico Pantani fan club, camped in a field, watched glumly as television relayed the news.

During the first week of the three-week Giro riders were enraged at having to be subjected to constant medical checks.

The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) tested all Italian riders. The Italian Cycling Federation and the UCI also carried out examinations.

Before the race began all 162 riders had their medical records studied by the UCI and on the morning of the opening stage Italian Nicola Loda and Spain's Antonio Ochoa were eliminated for failing blood tests.

Two weeks ago in Foggia, riders threatened a boycott because of the frequency of the tests. "Any more and we will go home," Pantani said at the time. "There is no respect for us. We have no privacy."

UCI president Hein Verbruggen calmed the situation somewhat with his open letter to the Giro stating that riders could refuse CONI tests without fear of disciplinary action.

Daily tests have been conducted on the Giro, but Pantani is the first since Loda and Ochoa to fail.