Bike loving jazz guitarist, 59, handed four-year doping ban by Italian Olympic Committee

Italian jazz musician Gigi Cifarelli, aged 59, is banned from competitive cycling for four years after testing positive at an amateur race

Gigi Cifarelli (Photo: Roberto Priolo/CC4.0)

It's only mid-January but we've already got a contender for the strangest cycling story of the year, involving an Italian jazz guitarist and a doping ban.

Luigi 'Gigi' Cifarelli, 59, has an "unbridled passion for cycling" according to Gazzetta dello Sport and took his love of the pursuit one step further by taking performance enhancing drugs ahead of an amateur race.

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Stuart Clarke is a News Associates trained journalist who has worked for the likes of the British Olympic Associate, British Rowing and the England and Wales Cricket Board, and of course Cycling Weekly. His work at Cycling Weekly has focused upon professional racing, following the World Tour races and its characters.