Triple Giro d?Italia stage winner Emanuele Sella of the CSF- Group team has admitted doping during questioning in Rome on Friday.
Sella was grilled for two hours by the Italian Olympic Committee?s anti-doping investigators and then issued a statement via his lawyers.
?He?s confessed to having access to a banned substance and he?s explained the context in how he received the substance,? the statement said, although Sella refused to give more details because an investigation was still underway.
?I?ve taken a weight off my shoulders. I know what has happened and that?s why I?ve decided to help,? Sella said in the statement.
According to reports in Italian media, Sella confessed to using the new 3G form of EPO called CERA. He apparently named the doctor who supplied him with the drug and named other people involved in doping in Italy at both professional and amateur level.
Sella was temporarily suspended by the Italian Olympic Committee on Thursday and will face a full disciplinary hearing later this months.
ANOTHER TOUR DE FRANCE POSITIVE EXPECTED
Cycling is set for another positive in the next few days after the Agence française de lutte contre le dopage (AFLD) announced that a rider at the Tour de France had tested positive for glucocorticoid steroid.
According to the AFLD, 13 riders were found with traces of corticoids in their urine samples but all but one had a Therapeutic Use Exemption certificate (TUE).
The AFLD confirmed that three riders were found positive for CERA (Ricco, Beltran and Duenas) and revealed the stunning figure that 76 out of the 180 starters in the Tour de France have TUE certificates for some kind of drug.
