Cycling: CONI opens probe into Cipollini doping allegations
Former world champion linked to Fuentes
11 February, 16:42
(ANSA) - Rome, February 11 - Italian Olympic Committee
(CONI) prosecutors said Monday that they had opened an
investigation into allegations of doping by retired former
cycling world champion Mario Cipollini.At the weekend La Gazzetta dello Sport and Spanish media published documents that they claimed showed Cipollini took part in a sophisticated programme prepared by Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes involving blood doping and use of blood booster EPO.
The documents derived from a Madrid trial into Fuentes, who is at the centre of the Operacion Puerto doping scandal. According to the allegations, Cipollini was a client of Fuentes's between 2001 and 2004.
This period includes his golden 2002 season, when Cipollini, a sprinter known as the Lion King for his blond wavy hair and flamboyant style, won the world championship, the Milan-Sanremo and Ghent-Wevelgem classics and six stages of the Giro d'Italia.
Cipollini, 45, retired in 2005, although he staged a brief comeback in 2008.
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