Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini-Selle Italia) has returned an “adverse analytical finding” of EPO in a sample taken during the Giro d’Italia, the International Cycling Union (UCI) has reported. The 28-year-old, who went on to win the 14th stage, provided the sample on May 4th in a random control after stage one, and is now provisionally suspended pending a test of his B-sample.
Santambrogio joined the giallo fluo team this year, after having spent the previous three years at BMC Racing. His performance has risen sharply this season, with his Giro stage victory coming on one of the toughest days of the race. He flirted with the podium for several days before slipping to ninth overall, while previous results in 2013 have included victory in the GP Industria & Artigianato Larciano and second overall in the Giro del Trentino.
How much Santambrogio’s presence in the Giro influenced the overall result cannot be known, but his stage victory on the tough climb to the Jafferau above Bardonecchia saw him jump clear of the race favourites with only eventual winner Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) able to follow.
Nibali allowed Santambrogio to take the stage, but his final margin of victory hopefully means that the time he took from his rivals that day was not decisive.
Santambrogio’s non-negative test is the second for Vini Fantini-Selle Italia in the Giro d’Italia, after veteran Danilo Di Luca was also provisionally suspended during the race. The 37-year-old, who was only signed a week before the race at the behest of the team’s sponsors, was dismissed as a member of a previous generation. While Santambrogio is not an established member of the crop of young riders that has ridden in the team’s colours for several years, the same can not be said for him.