Giro winner Di Luca quits worlds

ROME, Italy -- Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca faces being stripped of his crown and has withdrawn from the Italian team at the world championships after his national Olympic committee (CONI) recommended that he be banned for four months for alleged doping.

His pull out comes hours after local organizers in Stuttgart launched a court action to prevent Di Luca's team-mate and reigning world champion Paolo Bettini from competing in Sunday's road race.

The committee made their announcement on Thursday after mulling over the results of a surprise doping test during Di Luca's Giro win in June which found levels in his system that normally correspond to those of a child.

Di Luca, who has traveled to Stuttgart with the Italian team to compete in Sunday's world road race championships, has always denied doping, but pulled out of the race in the light of the ruling.

"It's a scandal," Di Luca said. "I'm going home without ever being banned, after months of sacrifice. (The decision) only served to prevent me from racing the world championship. ... I will be cleared 100 percent."

After a three-month wait, cycling's world governing body, the UCI, gave CONI permission on Wednesday to compare that abnormal test with his other drugs tests given during the Giro.

CONI would not divulge the results on Thursday, but indicated the findings warranted a suspension. The case now moves to CONI's disciplinary panel and they could recommend Di Luca loses his Giro crown.

The abnormal test came after the 17th stage of the Giro on May 30, a climb up Monte Zoncolan that was considered the toughest in this year's race.

Di Luca finished fourth, 31 seconds behind stage winner Gilberto Simoni.

While Di Luca travels home, Bettini's case has driven a wedge between the Stuttgart organizers and the world govenming body, the UCI.

The organizers want to exclude Bettini because he has refused to sign an anti-doing pledge on human rights grounds.

"These are actions which are completely unacceptable, particularly to a defending champion, three days before the world championships," UCI president Pat McQuaid said.

"The UCI would like to guarantee formally that he will take part."

Stuttgart says it has a binding deal with the UCI to ban any rider who has not signed the pledge. The UCI claims there is no link between the pledge and participation.

"We are taking it through the Stuttgart courts to see whether it is binding or not," Stuttgart sports commissioner Susanne Eisenmann said, adding she expected a ruling by early Friday.

The controversies are yet another blow to the reputation of professional cycling, with 2006 Tour de France champion Floyd Landis stripped of his title last week after losing a long-running fight to clear his name in a doping scandal.

This year's Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen was thrown off the race by his CSC team after allegedly lying over his whereabouts to avoid a doping test. E-mail to a friend

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