Danilo Di Luca

Danilo Di Luca

Danilo Di Luca in 2007
Personal information
Full name	Danilo Di Luca
Nickname	The Killer from Spoltore
Date of birth	January 2, 1976 (1976-01-02) (age 33)
Country	Italy
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	61 kg (134 lb)
Team information
Current team	None
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climber/Classics Specialist
Professional team(s)1
1998 1999–2001 2002–2004 2005–2007 2008–2009	Riso Scotti Cantina Tollo Saeco-Longoni Sport Liquigas–Bianchi LPR Brakes – Ballan
Major wins
UCI ProTour (2005) Giro d'Italia (2007), 8 stages Vuelta a España, 2 stages Amstel Gold Race (2005) Giro di Lombardia (2001) La Flèche Wallonne (2005) Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2007) Vuelta al País Vasco (2005)
Infobox last updated on:
August 8th, 2009 1 Team names given are those prevailing at time of rider beginning association with that team.

Danilo Di Luca (born January 2, 1976) is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode ^[1] for the UCI Professional Continental team LPR Brakes – Farnese Vini until suspended following a positive doping test during the 2009 Giro d'Italia.^[2] Di Luca won the 2005 UCI ProTour, the 2007 Giro d'Italia and the Giro di Lombardia in 2001 and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2007.

Early years

Born in Spoltore, province of Pescara, Di Luca began his professional career in 1998 in the Riso Scotti team. He showed talent by winning the under-23 version of the Giro D'Italia. His first pro win was in 1999, when, moving to Cantina Tollo-Alexia Alluminio, he won the first stage of the Giro d'Abruzzo. He remained in the team taking wins in 2001 such as the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia and the Giro di Lombardia. Then, he transferred to Saeco-Longoni Sport.

During his time at Saeco-Longoni he lost the Vuelta al País Vasco on the last stage, a mountain time trial in which Andreas Klöden took the lead and the win. Combined with injuries and lack of confidence of the team directors, his performance suffered. In 2004 Italian officials investigated Di Luca for doping. Cyclingnews.com said: "Di Luca was recorded in several phone conversations with Eddy Mazzoleni in which he allegedly talked about doping products, the investigation led to Di Luca's non-participation in the 2004 Tour de France."^[3][4]

2005

In 2005, Di Luca switched to Liquigas–Bianchi, with Mario Cipollini, Dario Cioni, Stefano Garzelli and Magnus Bäckstedt. He led the team for the spring classics. His first victory came in the first stage of the UCI ProTour race Vuelta al País Vasco, which he won overall after defeating Aitor Osa in the final time trial. He won the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne, taking the ProTour leader's white jersey.

Di Luca was seen as suited to races lasting only a few days. His success in the 2005 Giro d'Italia came as a surprise. Here he won two stages and finished fourth. He finished fifth in the Tour de Pologne. With a fourth in the 2005 Züri-Metzgete, he became 2005 UCI ProTour champion.

2006

Di Luca was forced to retire from the 2006 Tour de France, due to a urinary infection. He recovered to compete in the 2006 Vuelta a España, winning the fifth stage and holding the lead (ceding it to Janez Brajkovič). Di Luca's performances in the classics, the Giro, and other races, were a letdown from the triumphs of 2005.

2007

Di Luca won Milano-Torino in March and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April. He took stages 4 and 12 en route to the victory in the 2007 Giro d'Italia. After the Giro, it was revealed that Di Luca had unspecified low hormone levels. Italian authorities are determining if they are a consequence of racing at a high level for three weeks or some kind of masking agent.^[5] On September 28, Di Luca withdrew from the UCI road championship calling his treatment "a scandal" after doping allegations.^[6]

Di Luca was leading the 2007 UCI ProTour when he was suspended before the final race, the Giro di Lombardia, due to alleged involvement in the Oil for Drugs case, for which he was suspended for three months through the close season.^[7]

2008–2009

In 2008, Di Luca had a quiet year as his new team, LPR Brakes – Ballan, were not invited to many races. In 2009, they received a wildcard entry to the Giro d'Italia and Di Luca won the fourth stage.^[8] He then came second on the fifth stage, gaining the pink jersey as race leader, and extended his lead by winning the tenth stage. He lost time on the two time trial stages and finished second overall, winning the points classification.

On 22 July 2009, it was announced that Di Luca had tested positive for CERA on 20 and 28 May 2009, during the Giro d'Italia. He was provisionally suspended with immediate effect by the UCI.^[2][9] He had been targeted for testing using information from his biological passport's blood profile, previous test results and his race schedule.^[10] On 8 August, his positive tests were confirmed. He is expected to be banned from the sport for two years.^[11]

Major achievements

See also

• List of doping cases in cycling

References

External links

• Twitter
• Official website
• Danilo Di Luca profile
• Palmarès at Trap-Friis.dk

v • d • e Winners of the general classification in the Giro d'Italia 1909 Luigi Ganna • 1910–11 Carlo Galetti • 1912* Team Atala • 1913 Carlo Oriani • 1914 Alfonso Calzolari 1915–18 World War I 1919 Costante Girardengo • 1920 Gaetano Belloni • 1921–22 Giovanni Brunero • 1923 Costante Girardengo • 1924 Giuseppe Enrici • 1925 Alfredo Binda 1926 Giovanni Brunero • 1927–29 Alfredo Binda • 1930 Luigi Marchisio • 1931 Francesco Camusso • 1932 Antonio Pesenti • 1933 Alfredo Binda • 1934 Learco Guerra 1935 Vasco Bergamaschi • 1936–37 Gino Bartali • 1938–39 Giovanni Valetti • 1940 Fausto Coppi 1941–45 World War I 1946 Gino Bartali • 1947 Fausto Coppi • 1948 Fiorenzo Magni • 1949 Fausto Coppi • 1950 Hugo Koblet • 1951 Fiorenzo Magni • 1952–53 Fausto Coppi 1954 Carlo Clerici • 1955 Fiorenzo Magni • 1956 Charly Gaul • 1957 Gastone Nencini • 1958 Ercole Baldini • 1959 Charly Gaul • 1960 Jacques Anquetil 1961 Arnaldo Pambianco • 1962–63 Franco Balmamion • 1964 Jacques Anquetil • 1965 Vittorio Adorni • 1966 Gianni Motta • 1967 Felice Gimondi • 1968 Eddy Merckx 1969 Felice Gimondi • 1970 Eddy Merckx • 1971 Gösta Pettersson • 1972–74 Eddy Merckx • 1975 Fausto Bertoglio • 1976 Felice Gimondi • 1977 Michel Pollentier 1978 Johan de Muynck • 1979 Giuseppe Saronni • 1980 Bernard Hinault • 1981 Giovanni Battaglin • 1982 Bernard Hinault • 1983 Giuseppe Saronni 1984 Francesco Moser • 1985 Bernard Hinault • 1986 Roberto Visentini • 1987 Stephen Roche • 1988 Andy Hampsten • 1989 Laurent Fignon • 1990 Gianni Bugno 1991 Franco Chioccioli • 1992–93 Miguel Indurain • 1994 Evgeni Berzin • 1995 Tony Rominger • 1996 Pavel Tonkov • 1997 Ivan Gotti • 1998 Marco Pantani 1999 Ivan Gotti • 2000 Stefano Garzelli • 2001 Gilberto Simoni • 2002 Paolo Savoldelli • 2003 Gilberto Simoni • 2004 Damiano Cunego • 2005 Paolo Savoldelli 2006 Ivan Basso • 2007 Danilo Di Luca • 2008 Alberto Contador • 2009 Denis Menchov *This Giro was contested solely by teams, with no individual classification