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Di Luca faces exclusion from Sunday's road race

The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) was examining an abnormal test result for Giro d'Italia champion Danilo Di Luca yesterday that could result in the rider being excluded from Sunday's road race at the world championships.

The Olympic committee found levels in Di Luca's system that normally correspond to a child in a surprise test taken during the 31-year-old rider's Giro win in June.

After a three-month wait, CONI was given permission by the International Cycling Union on Wednesday to compare the abnormal test with other exams on Di Luca.

CONI said that its lab could hand over the results of the comparison later yesterday.

The abnormal test came after the 17th stage of the Giro on May 30, a climb up Monte Zoncolan that was considered the toughest in this year's race. Di Luca finished fourth, 31 seconds behind stage winner Gilberto Simoni.

CONI was also monitoring a court hearing in Pescara yesterday concerning the four-year-old doping investigation known as the "Oil for Drugs" case.

On July 12, Di Luca was cleared of involvement by CONI in the case, but new evidence has reportedly surfaced.

"My [case] should be dismissed, and that's it," Di Luca was quoted as saying in yesterday's Gazzetta dello Sport. "It's been five months that I've been hearing the usual things."

The "Oil for Drugs" case centers on Di Luca and several other athletes who allegedly received doping products from Italian doctor Carlo Santuccione.

Di Luca has always denied doping. Santuccione already served a five-year suspension from the Italian cycling federation from 1995 to 2000.

Di Luca traveled with Italy's team on Wednesday to the worlds in Stuttgart, Germany, where local organizers are calling for his ouster.

Italy coach Franco Ballerini is hoping for the best.

"If Valverde races, Di Luca can race," Ballerini was quoted as saying in the Gazzetta.

The UCI had banned Alejandro Valverde from competing in the road race at the worlds because of his alleged links to the Operation Puerto blood-doping investigation in Spain, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport overruled that decision on Wednesday, arguing it constituted a sanction even before he was found guilty.
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