Cycling: Giro d'Italia champion Danilo Di Luca is shocked by the decision to charge him with a doping offence and has called a request for a two-year ban "absurd".
The Italian Olympic Committee's (Coni) anti-doping prosecutor has asked a sporting judge to impose the maximum suspension on the LPR rider after a test following the 17th stage of the Giro last May showed abnormal hormone levels.
Arguments over whether the results from the surprise late-night test broke doping rules have been going on for months. A Coni statement yesterday concluded the test had "an atypical analytical outcome".
"I was convinced the Coni prosecutor would drop the case. Does it seem a coherent decision to you? In the courts you cannot be condemned without proof," Di Luca told Thursday's Gazzetta dello Sport.
"It is clear that this story has become absurd."
The 32-year-old was given a three-month ban by Coni in October for a related doping matter. He was punished for his involvement with Carlo Santuccione, a doctor accused of supplying doping products to athletes.
The rider has always denied any wrongdoing and appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over the original ban. A hearing is expected on March 20th but Di Luca may now want to challenge the new charge in the world's highest sporting court.
"I owe everything to cycling, which I have been dedicated to since I was eight. But in life there are not only races. I will decide when to stop, no one else," he added.
"I still have faith that in the end everything will be cleared up in front of the sporting judge or CAS."