Major doping raids target Katusha and Lampre teams

Karpets during the 9th stage of the 2010 Giro. (Image (c) Cor Vos/Bike World News)

Carabinieri units searched the headquarters of the Katusha team in Veneto region of northern Italy and allegedly confiscated medical records (the biological passports) of Aleksander Kolobnev, Vladimir Karpets, Mikhail Ignatiev, Vladimir Gusev and Evgeni Petrov. Representatives from Katusha said that they were cooperating with the investigation and that one of the riders investigated was no longer with the team.

Lampre officials confirmed that Carabinieri searched their hotel near Mount Etna where Michele Scarponi and Leonardo Bertagnolli are currently training for the 2011 Giro d’Italia. Team officials said in a communique that the squad is cooperating with officials, who took with them packets of common anti-inflammatories, powdered milk and Enervit bars. Scarponi was suspended for his involvement in the Spanish doping scandal involving the physician Eufemiano Fuentes for 18 months. After his comeback in 2010 he finished fourth at the Giro d’Italia.

The operation was coordinated by the prosecutor of Padua, who is focusing their investigations on the activities of several cycling teams at the national level. The Italian court is pursuing a number of ‘patients’ that have had contact with doping doctor Michele Ferrari since 2002; Ferrari is the Italian physician that Lance Armstrong worked with at one time.

Scarponi told Cycling News that he has never worked with Ferarri.