UCI’s biological passport has its first success
Italian Francesco De Bonis has been sanctioned for two years by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) today. De Bonis has the dubious honor of being the first cyclist caught and subsequently sanctioned for doping by the International Cycling Union’s new Biological Passport system.
De Bonis, who rode for the Diquigiovanni team last year, was suspended by his team after the UCI published his name and four others including, Ricardo Serrano, Igor Astarloa, Rubén Lobato and Pietro Caucchioli on June 18th citing abnormal blood values.
He was fined 13,750 euros and forced to pay the UCI’s expenses. His saction ends on June 17, 2011.
De Bonis turned professional with the Gerolsteiner team, the the same team as Bernard Kohl, Davide Rebellin and Stefan Schumacher. All four riders have now been sanctioned for using EPO due to stronger controls being introduced into the sport. The other three cyclists were caught when retroactive testing was performed following a new method of detection.