PETACCHI OUT OF TEAM MILRAM

• Friday, 16 May 2008
• Cycling Weekly
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Alessandro Petacchi and his Milram team have split following the Italian sprinters ban for Salbutamol abuse

Petacchi tested positive for the substance at last year's Giro but later cleared by the Italian Cycling Federation. But then the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport who banned Petacchi on May 6th, just before the Giro.

Although the ban was back dated, allowing the Italian to return to racing by the end of August, this latest development seems to indicate the end of his career.

Milram's statement reads as follows:

Pro-tour Cycling team MILRAM has informed that, due to the outcome of the Arbitral Award delivered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and condemnation against mister Alessandro Petacchi, the team will terminate their contract with mister Petacchi with immediate effect.

“Every breach of our team policy is going to be penalized”, said MILRAM's General Manager Gerry van Gerwen. Although team MILRAM is aware of the content of the CAS award, which states that mister Petacchi did not cheat or abused his medicine Salbutamol, the CAS came to the conclusion that mister Petacchi was in breach of the specific terms of his ATUE and therefore was in breach of UCI regulations.

Team MILRAM’s policy regarding the breach of UCI rules by any team member is such, that team MILRAM and mister Petacchi have decided to terminate the contract. Parties have discussed the consequences of the termination and came to a mutual settlement.

Chief Sales and Marketing officer of Nordmilch AG, Martin Mischel said:

"Our position is clear: We explicitly disapprove of any kind of doping. We want clean sports and performance on a natural basis. We have discussed the present judgement against Alessandro Petacchi distinctly with the team management and we approve of the resultant separation of Team MILRAM from Alessandro Petacchi. The consistent compliance of the mutually passed Anti-Doping course is a decisive pillar of our sponsoring engagement.“

RELATED LINK
Petacchi banned for Salbutamol Positive