Former Giro winner Danilo Di Luca banned from cycling for life

FORMER Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca was banned from cycling for life Thursday following a third doping offense.

Italy Doping Di Luca

FORMER Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca has been banned from cycling for life following a third doping offense, joining Lance Armstrong as one of the highest profile riders to be kicked out of the sport.

The Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping court issued the verdict after the 37-year-old Di Luca tested positive for the blood booster EPO in a surprise test in April, five days before this year's Giro.

The ban matched the request from CONI's anti-doping prosecutor Tammaro Maiello. Di Luca was also fined more than 38,000 euros ($57,000).

After a hearing with the prosecutor in September, Di Luca did not deny doping, saying that the case "doesn't change much" for his fans.

Still, Di Luca could appeal to the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Last year, Armstrong was banned for life by the United States Anti-Doping Association and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping.

The Vini Fantini-Selle Italia squad fired Di Luca immediately after his latest positive test was announced with the Giro nearly finished.

In 2009, Di Luca was given a two-year ban after testing positive during the Giro for CERA, an advanced form of EPO. That ban was subsequently reduced by nine months after he collaborated with Italian anti-doping authorities.

And a short time after winning the 2007 Giro, Di Luca was banned for three months for frequent visits to Carlo Santuccione, a physician at the center of a four-year doping investigation titled Oil for Drugs.

Di Luca was stripped of his second-place finish and two stage wins in the 2009 Giro, which was won by Russian rider Denis Menchov.

Seemingly headed for retirement just a few months before this year's Giro, Di Luca signed with Vini Fantini in April - a week before the race began. He fared well in several stages of the Italian classic, with four top-10 finishes.

His results from this year's Giro will now be stripped.