May 6, 2008 (Lausanne, Switzerland) – Italian cyclist Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) has been convicted of doping in an appeals ruling before the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reports AP and Reuters. This same decision stripped Petacchi of his five stage wins at the 2007 Giro d’Italia, forfeits his results since October 31, and bans him from competing in professional cycling events until August 31.

This ruling also concludes a legal battle between the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) supported by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which was seeking a two-year ban for Petacchi, and the Italian cycling federation, which last year cleared the sprinter of any wrongdoing in this case.

Petacchi, 34, returned a “non negative” test for salbutamol – a medication used to treat asthma commonly known by its brand name of Ventolin® – during the 2007 Giro. Although Petacchi suffers from asthma and has a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) issued by the UCI for salbutamol, he tested at 1,320 nanograms millilitre of urine after the 11th stage of the 2007 Giro. This is above the ceiling of 1,000 nanograms of salbutamol per millilitre of urine as established by WADA. Salbutamol is a bronchodilator that increases the delivery of oxygen to the lungs and can be viewed as a performance-enhancing drug.

The CAS panel indicated that they do not believe Petacchi intended to take excessive doses of salbutamol. Consequently, he will be banned from cycling events for only one year, not two years as requested by CONI. The CAS further decided to backdate his ban to November of 2007 and to take into account a two-month ban already served by the cyclist.

Before the ruling, Petacchi was not planning to compete in this year’s Giro, which starts Saturday in Palermo, Sicily, because of a bout of bronchitis. Now the ruling bans him from competing in the Giro, the TdF and the Beijing Olympics.