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Giro champ Di Luca pulls out of world championships

Giro d'Italia champion Danilo Di Luca withdrew from the world championships on Thursday because of doping allegations, hours after the host city opened court proceedings to keep Paolo Bettini out of the road race.

Di Luca withdrew from tomorrow's highlight of the championships after the Italian Olympic Committee recommended the ProTour leader be banned for four months for doping.

"It's a scandal," Di Luca said. "I'm going home without ever being banned, after months of sacrifice. [The decision] only served to prevent me from racing the world championship. ... I will be cleared 100 percent."

The city of Stuttgart wants to keep world champion Bettini away from the road race because the Italian refuses to sign an anti-doping pledge.

Even if the UCI is angry that the world champion refuses to sign to the voluntary commitment, it said the host city was totally out of line to seek a court ban.

"These are actions which are completely unacceptable, particularly to a defending champion, three days before the world championships," International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid said. "The UCI would like to guarantee formally that he will take part."

That guarantee pleased Bettini.

"I never had the feeling I wouldn't race the world championships because I knew that I had not broken any rules," Bettini said. "I don't have anything against the ethics code. I only take issue with the economic part."

Under the code players with a doping conviction face heavy fines. Bettini said the anti-doping pledge amounted to "extortion."

"It is nothing but a pure farce," Bettini said, adding that calling for higher fines than previously agreed on "is nothing but a populist measure."

The Bonn prosecutor's office said a federal police officer had talked with Bettini in the presence of his lawyer. However, a spokesman for Bettini's team said there was only a telephone conversation between a German official and Bettini's lawyer. Both sides stressed there was not an interrogation.

McQuaid accused Stuttgart sports commissioner Susanne Eisenmann of using the world championships and the doping issue to promote her own agenda, and referred to an alleged outstanding financial debt with the UCI linked to the championships.

"It seems she is trying to find a way out of that commitment," McQuaid said. "This sort of behavior for a city which is supposed to be a sports city does not do it good."

Stuttgart claims it has a binding deal with the UCI to ban any rider who has not signed the pledge. The UCI claims there is no link between the pledge and participation in the world championships.

"We are taking it through the Stuttgart courts to see whether it is binding or not," Eisenmann said, adding she expected a ruling by yesterday.

Eisenmann also said the city was ready to sue the UCI if the ZDF public broadcaster pulls out of the championships, causing financial losses for sponsors.

Late on Wednesday, the UCI was forced to allow Alejandro Valverde of Spain and Allan Davis of Australia to compete despite the federation's doping suspicions.
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