FOUR riders have been banned from the Giro d'Italia after failing random blood tests.

Ukraine's Vladimir Poulnikov, Italian teammates Marco Gili and Roberto Moretti and Frenchman Thierry Laurent were declared medically unfit to continue the race yesterday because their red blood cell count was too high.

International Cycling Union (UCI) jury president Michel Riviere said blood samples had been taken from 19 riders an hour before the start of the 11th stage.

The UCI decided in January to introduce blood tests to try to combat the use of EPO (erythropoietin) and injectable blooddoping substances.