Di Luca doping?

by BDBrian on Sep 26, 2007 11:28 AM EDT

According to the Associated Press, he had a suspect test on the Monte Zoncolan stage of the Giro... Meaning his WC berth, his PT close-to-win, and his Giro may be thrown out.

Link: HERE

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It's all sorta complicated

Gazetta has a long(ish) report today. There are three cases - and I use that term loosely - pending against Diluca at the moment.

First, the old standby, Oil for Drugs. Gazetta reports today that Diluca is likely to be handed a three month suspension any minute now. The suspension is not for doping specifically, but for working with Santuccione while Dr S was suspended on charges of providing doping products. l'oops. Apparently, there is a rule to that effect. The authorities were not able to prove that Diluca received doping products from Santuccione, though the telephone transcripts were highly, highly suggestive. But it is all but certain they will nail him on this lesser violation.

Second, there is a new, improved blood doping case emerging in Italy. Details remain scarce on this thing, except that it involved stored blood and Diluca's brother Altobrando may have been in possession of frozen blood bags intended for Danilo. The first hearing before the criminal authorities in Pescara is scheduled for this week. (I believe it's tomorrow, actually.) It's unclear where this particular case may go, and if there is sufficient evidence to suspend Diluca (or anyone else.) Torre, the head CONI guy, had just departed for vacation when the story became public, and had only just then received the evidence. CONI was closed for business for the month of August, but are plainly back and better than ever.

Third, Diluca returned suspect values on a doping control before the Zoncolon stage. This is the case that SI mentions above. CONI made a surprise visit to the Giro and tested Diluca, Simoni, Ricco, and Mazzoleni. The Italian authorities sought test results from the UCI in order to compare the values, but the UCI refused. The UCI has now turned over the information. It remains unclear at this point whether the tests reveal a doping violation. The reports thus far refer to an "abnormal hormonal profile." With the additional information from the UCI in hand, CONI should decide soon whether they have sufficient evidence to pursue the case. If they can prove a violation, then yes, Diluca would lose the Giro title, since the violation took place during the race. But we've a long way to go before we reach that point.

Gazetta concludes today that it is "unlikely" that Diluca will ride worlds. He will "almost certainly watch the race on television," they report.

No doubt more information will come out on this within the next day or so.

by Jen See on Sep 26, 2007 11:53 AM EDT reply actions

Ack

That's Torri. Torri, Torri, Torri.

Sigh. I never spell his name right!

by Jen See on Sep 26, 2007 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions

if I remember the Zoncolan

DiLuca was dropped by Piepoli, Simoni, Schleck, and Cunego, who were working together. He was by himself and dropped almost two minutes behind.

Then somehow in the final two km of a 12% average grade climb, he started making back time on the lead threesome and passed Cunego. Finished well under a minute down.

It looked strange at the time -- DiLuca is not exactly a diesel-type rider. Looked like he hooked himself up with a tasty pint of his own home brew.

But what can UCI/CONI do it if was autologous? If his reticulocyte count is extremely low, they know de facto he was blood doping, whether autologous or homologous. But they can't charge him unless it was homologous, which, if true, we would have heard of by now. So what does UCI think it gets out of this?

by Mr 60 Percent on Sep 26, 2007 2:48 PM EDT reply actions

Not sure, but...

There's a blood doping case emerging in Italy. Supposedly, it was a wide-reaching network, involving bikey racers, something like the Puerto thing. I'm guessing that CONI may be looking at the suspicious controls from the Giro in the search for evidence to support that investigation. They obviously don't have a failed control, as you say, we'd have heard it by now. But they do have an "abnormal profile," which might help nail down the blood doping charge if combined with other evidence.

Just guessin' here.

by Jen See on Sep 26, 2007 4:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Zoncolan

Well, the last couple of kilometers of the Zoncolan were quite a bit easier than the middle section, so I wouldn't read anything into Di Luca's ability to recover a bit over those last 2k.

I don't think it's blood doping that is suspected here. The issue appears to be out-of-whack hormone levels.

My recollection from when the story broke during the Giro is that CONI tested Di Luca, Simoni, Ricco, and Mazzoleni at their hotels after the Zoncolan stage, and reported that all four riders showed hormone levels equivalent to those of a pre-adolescent boy. It's a strange story, and suggests that either: (1) the riders' hormone levels had naturally dropped during the course of the Giro; (2) all four riders were doping with something that caused abnormally low hormone levels; (3) all four riders were using a masking agent that made it appear that they had low hormone levels; or (4) all four samples were tampered with prior to the testing. My understanding is that CONI requested the riders' other test results from the UCI so that they could see how the levels they found compared to the riders' hormone levels in other races.

Eleven Nation Army: Ready to get rich off the other teams' lunch money

by Susie Hartigan on Sep 26, 2007 4:29 PM EDT up reply actions

ok, thanks

very, very interesting.

i pick option #3. occam's razor says if hormone levels appear crazy low, we're looking at a new generation hgh masker. this way garzelli wouldn't have to resort to probenecid again.

a new masking agent would make sense considering that the industry knows a new hgh test is supposed to be available for use next year. baseball is supposed to be implementing the new test; i don't even know about cycling.

#1 doesn't mesh. #2 i don't see since i don't know of any doping products that generally reduce hormone levels, which would be counterproductive.

by Mr 60 Percent on Sep 26, 2007 5:13 PM EDT up reply actions