Italian cyclist Da Ros banned for 20 years

Rome:

Cyclist Gianni Da Ros was banned for 20 years on Monday for doping in one of the heaviest sanctions ever imposed by the Italian Olympic Committee.

Da Ros was arrested in March while training with Italy's national track cycling team in Padua and was immediately suspended by his Liquigas team. Ten other people have also been arrested as part of an inquiry into a doping trafficking ring in northern Italy.

Besides doping himself, Da Ros was also accused of providing performance enhancing drugs to two amateur cyclists. Also on Monday, CONI banned two other cyclists for doping --Davide Lucato received an eight-year sentence and Albino Corazzin was suspended for two years.

In another case of a cyclist accused of doping, Gabriele Bosisio protested his innocence in a hearing with CONI's anti-doping prosecutor.