Petacchi suspended and Vila tests positive

AFP report: Spanish cyclist Patxi Vila of the Lampre team tested positive in March for testosterone and was dropped from the list of racers who were pre-registered for the Tour of Italy, sports daily AS reported Tuesday.

The 32-year-old tested positive in a surprise drugs test carried out on March 3 at his home by the International Cycling Union, the paper said. Vila has asked for a "B" sample to be analysed since the amount of the banned substance found in the first test was very small, it said citing sources close to the cyclist.

The racer was only informed of the test result last week which is why he did not take part in the fourth stage of the Tour of Romandie in Switzerland.

He will miss the Tour of Italy which gets underway on Saturday in Palermo.

Alessandrom Petacchi Suspended
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled Tuesday that Italian cycling sprint king Alessandro Petacchi will be ineligible to compete in competitions until August 31, 2008 over a doping case.

The 34-year-old Petacchi tested positive for the drug salbutamol in May last year during the Tour of Italy.
The Italian Cycling Federation cleared him of wrong-doing, putting the non-negative result down to human error, but the Italian Olympic Committee

(Coni) took the case to CAS and asked that he be banned for two years. "CAS has ruled that Alessandro Petacchi is ineligble to compete for a period of one year, less two months already served. Therefore, the period of ineligibilty will run from 1 November 2007 to 31 August 2008," the Lausanne-based court said in a statement.

Petacchi said on Saturday that he would not compete anyway in this year's upcoming Tour of Italy because of bronchitis.

The Italian is one of the greatest sprinters of all time having won 24 Giro stages, including an incredible nine in 2004 alone. He has also enjoyed more than 150 wins during his illustrious career.