Danilo Di Luca

Danilo Di Luca at the Tour de Pologne, 2005

Danilo Di Luca on the Germany tour 2005

Danilo Di Luca (* 2. January 1976 in Spoltore ) is a former Italian professional - cyclist , who during his career several classic and the 2007 Giro d'Italia won. He was banned three times for doping offenses or other violations of the medical regulations, most recently in 2013 as a repeat offender for life. He is nicknamed Killer .

First successes - first suspicion of doping: Oil for Drugs

Di Luca began his professional career in 1999 with the Cantina Tollo cycling team . With a stage win at the Giro d'Italia in 2000 and 2001 as well as the success of the Italian autumn classic Lombardy Tour , he was able to achieve significant successes at the beginning of his career.

Shortly thereafter, Di Luca came under suspicion of doping as part of the investigation into the Oil for Drugs affair , which had been ongoing since 2003 , which is why he was declared a “ persona non grata ” at the 2004 Tour de France . There are phone calls and video recordings that incriminated Di Luca and suggested that Di Luca had been administered with IGF-3 , EPO and testosterone by the sports doctor Carlo Santuccione . It was not possible to prove a specific doping offense to Di Luca. However, in October 2007, Di Luca was banned from the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) for a three-month period, as the latter considered it to be proven that, contrary to another patient of the lifelong banned Dr. Santuccione was. Di Lucas' appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was unsuccessful in 2008.

Career high point - first doping ban

During the ongoing Oil-for-Drugs investigation, Di Luca continued to be successful. In 2005 he first won the Tour of the Basque Country and a few weeks later also in the one-day classics Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne . In the Giro d'Italia that followed , he won two stages, wore the overall leader's Maglia Rosa for five days and took fourth place overall. As a result of these successes, Di Luca already had a clear lead in the overall ranking of the newly created UCI ProTour in spring and was able to finish the individual ranking of the first event as the winner.

2007 was even more successful for Di Luca. In spring he won the Italian semi-classic Milan – Turin and the “Monument” Liège – Bastogne – Liège . In May he was able to win two stages and the overall ranking of the Giro d'Italia and thus, in addition to the successes in one-day races, establish himself as the winner in a Grand Tour stage race . The mountain finish on Monte Zoncolan , probably the steepest and most difficult climb in Europe, played a key role in this , where Di Luca was able to defend his overall lead. However, the result of the doping sample Di Lucas taken after this stage, as well as the samples from other drivers, aroused further suspicion, as these had abnormally low hormone levels, which can be an indication of the use of drugs that mask drugs.

After these successes, Di Luca led the individual ranking of the UCI ProTour 2007 . However, as a result of his suspension due to the Oil for Drugs affair , all items in the ranking were stripped from him. After his suspension expired, his team LPR Brakes-Ballan was not invited to the 2008 Giro d'Italia .

At the Giro d'Italia 2009 his team received a wildcard . He won a stage, the Maglia Ciclamino, and finished the race in second place overall. On July 29, 2009, it was announced that Di Luca had tested positive for the EPO derivative CERA twice during the Giro , whereupon he was suspended by the UCI. The tests were carried out specifically on the basis of suspicious values in his biological passport . On February 1, 2010, the CONI blocked Di Luca for two years and sentenced him to a fine of € 280,000 and to pay the legal costs. His results at the Giro d'Italia 2009 were canceled from the eleventh stage. His suspension, originally limited to July 21, 2011, was shortened by the CONI to nine months and seven days due to a leniency program , so that he was allowed to race again since October 15, 2010. The fine has been reduced to € 106,400. The penalty was reduced due to Di Luca's cooperation with the investigators in uncovering current doping methods.

Comeback and lifelong doping ban

After his suspension expired, Di Luca had been driving for the Katusha team since 2011 , with which he had a strongly performance-related contract, and switched to the Acqua e Sapone team for the 2012 season .

During a training check on April 29, 2013, he tested positive for EPO again. The announcement by the UCI took place while he was contesting the Giro d'Italia for his new team Vini Fantini-Selle Italia . The contractual relationship was terminated without notice and Di Luca was instructed to leave the Giro d'Italia. As a repeat offender, he was banned for life by the CONI on December 5, 2013. All results from April 29, 2013 were deleted, he had to pay a fine of € 37,985 and the costs of the proceedings.

Almost six weeks after Di Luca was banned for life, he gave an interview on Italian television in which he stated that almost 90 percent of all drivers in the Giro d'Italia were doped. At the same time, he spoke out in favor of legalizing doping.