Ban for Italian ex-pro who raced in fixed-gear criterium without disclosing doping past

Italian former professional cyclist Mauro Santambrogio has been handed a three-month ban after racing in a fixed-gear criterium, having failed to disclose his past convictions for doping when he applied for his licence.

In June, the 35-year-old from Como took part in the Urbe Criterium Race in Ostia near Rome, which also serves as the Italian fixed-gear championship reports La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Prosecutors said that his Master’s licence had never been validated, and that he had falsely declared that he had never been sanctioned for doping, a condition for the licence to be released.

Besides being banned for three months, Santambrogio was also fined €500.

During 2010 and 2011, when he was with BMC Racing, Santambrogio was twice suspended from racing by his team after being linked to an anti-doping investigation in Mantua, although no charges were ever brought against him.

In 2013, he was banned for two years, reduced to 18 months because of assistance he gave to the anti-doping authorities, after testing positive for EPO during that year’s Giro d’Italia.

During that race, he won a memorable Stage 14 in the Alps to move fourth on the general classification on a day when the route was altered due to snow.

The Vini Fantini-Selle Italia rider would finish ninth overall, with his performance in the race arousing suspicions even before news of his positive test came a week after it finished.

He subsequently tested positive for testosterone in an out-of-competition test in October 2014, resulting in a further three-year ban.

He attributed the failed anti-doping control to treatment he was receiving for an erectile disorder.