Alessandro Ballan

Alessandro Ballan at the 2007 Tour de France

Alessandro Ballan (born November 6, 1979 in Castelfranco Veneto ) is a former Italian cyclist .

Career

Ballan only became a professional with the Lampre cycling team in 2004 at the age of 24 . In the 2005 season he achieved his first individual successes and won one stage in the Three Days of De Panne and one in the Eneco Tour . With a sixth place in the cobblestone race of the Tour of Flanders , he achieved his first place in the front of a classic . At the beginning of the 2006 season he won his first international one-day race , the Trofeo Laigueglia . In spring 2007 Ballan won the first stage race with the three days of De Panne . He later won his first classic, the Tour of Flanders. After this victory, the success at the Vattenfall Cyclassics was another victory in a ProTour race. In 2008 he was able to take third place at Paris-Roubaix and a stage win at the Vuelta a España . He achieved the greatest success of his career in Varese , Italy , and became world road cycling champion . In 2009 he celebrated his first tour success at Pro-Tour level with the Tour of Poland . In 2012 he won the Giro di Toscana and also won a stage of the Eneco Tour .

Ballan fell badly during a training camp in Spain on December 20, 2012. He broke his thigh and several ribs. A rib pierced his lungs. He also suffered severe internal injuries, had to undergo multiple operations and was in an artificial coma for a few days. Ballan's spleen also had to be removed, and removal of the kidney could be averted. On December 28th, he was able to leave the intensive care unit. Ballan was thus out for the entire 2013 season.

After the April 2011 public prosecutor of Mantua had announced Ballan for alleged an autologous transfusion to indict in 2009, he was in January 2014 by the Italian Olympic Committee CONI banned for two years by 16 January 2016th Ballans defended himself that he had due to Toxoplasmoseerkrankung and a resulting therefrom hepatitis an ozone therapies made to combat this infectious disease. Ballan was sacked by his team, the BMC Racing Team , with immediate effect after the verdict became known. In February 2015, the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced the suspension by five months, so that Ballan's suspension expired on August 17, 2015. A criminal investigation against Ballan was dropped in December 2015.