Bosisio suspended for two years

Former LPR rider Gabriele Bosisio was hit with a two-year suspension by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) on Wednesday after testing positive for EPO last fall.

The 29-year-old former teammate of Danilo Di Luca, who is also serving a doping ban, tested positive in a surprise out-of-competition test last September.

Bosisio’s suspension will expire on October 5, 2011, two years after he was provisionally suspended by the UCI, pending the outcome of the CONI hearing. He was also fined 9,625 euros.

Bosisio was subjected to an out-of-competition test in September because his blood values did not correspond to the parameters recorded in his “biological passport,” the medical monitoring program instituted by the UCI in 2008.

A subsequent test showed evidence that Basisio had used recombinant erythropoietin, an exogenous version of the natural hormone that triggers red blood cell production. At the time, Bosisio denied ever having used the performance-enhancing substance.

“I’ve never taken EPO and I repeat that I am innocent,” Bosisio told CONI in November.

Bosisio is a former winner of the Giro del Lazio and the Giro d’Oro. He won the seventh stage in the 2008 Giro d’Italia and then wore the maglia rosa for a day after the 14th stage.