Italian cyclist Marta Bastianelli has appealed to The Court of Arbitration for Sport Monday in to overturn her one-year doping ban.
Bastianelli tested positive for the stimulant flenfluramine in a test carried out at the under-23 European championships in Verbania, Italy, this past July.
Her positive test prompted the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) to drop the rider from their Olympic team heading to Beijing.
The Court of Arbitration confirmed that the 2007 women’s World Road Race Champion, Bastianelli, has asked it to annul her suspension by CONI in October.
“The cyclist considers that the substance found in her body was not a stimulant,” CAS said in a statement.
The 21-year-old insists that she did not knowingly use the drug, but did confirm using a weight-loss product that was prescribed to her containing the banned substance.
A date has not yet been set for the CAS hearing.