CONI SAY DI LUCA SHOULD BE BANNED FOR TWO YEARS

The anti-doping prosecutor from the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) has asked that 2007 Tour of Italy winner Danilo Di Luca receive a ban of up to two years for an ?irregular? test in last year?s race.

Di Luca, 32, has recently served a three-month ban because of connections with Italian doctor Carlo Santuccione - the medic accused of supplying athletes with banned substances.

A CONI judge will now make a decision on the new Di Luca case, which arose after CONI found allegedly irregular hormone levels in Di Luca?s system after a Giro 2007 mountain stage.

There have been months of indecision and discussion over whether the test during the Giro constituted a breach of doping rules. Finally on Wednesday CONI announced their prosecutor thinks the Italian should serve a two-year ban.

Di Luca?s lawyer, Federico Cecconi, told Italy?s news agency ANSA that the issues were not clear and that the charge was ?conceptually flawed.?

Di Luca could not race September?s WOrld Championships because of the doping investigations, which also saw him stripped of ProTour leadership just days before the Tour of Lombardy, the last event on the ProTour calendar.

Di Luca, who is now racing for Italian squad LPR, has always said he has never doped.