(AP) – Italian cyclist Stefano Pirazzi has been banned for four years for a positive doping test ahead of the Giro d’Italia.
The International Cycling Union says the 30-year-old Pirazzi is suspended until May 3, 2021.
The UCI says he tested positive for growth hormone-releasing peptides in training one week before the Giro began in May.
Pirazzi won the mountains classification in the 2013 Giro and a stage of the three-week race the next year.
He was fired by his Bardiani CSF team within a month of the positive test.
Pirazzi can appeal against his ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
