The appeals committee of the Italian Cycling Federation has asked that the case of cyclist Alessandro Petacchi, who tested positive for Salbutamol during the Giro d’Italia, should be heard before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The FCI cleared the 33-year-old sprint ace of doping last month claiming that human error was to blame for his positive test for Salbutamol, a medication primarily used to treat asthma, in May, which resulted in his Milram team barring him from the Tour de France. He has since returned to competition.Petacchi has a Therapeutic Use Exemption for the drug, having suffered from asthma for many years.

The World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited list notes, however, that riders whose urine samples show a concentration of Salbutamol greater than 1000 nanograms per milliliter must prove that the elevated level is a result of normal therapeutic use. If a rider with a Therapeutic Use Exemption produces a level lower than 1000 ng/mL the burden of proof falls to anti-doping authorities, if they wish to show a violation.

Petacchi produced a level higher than the upper limit and was required to show that he did not take the drug orally or inject it and that his use of the inhaler was in keeping with its normal therapeutic use. On July 24, an FCI panel ruled that Petacchi and his attorneys had met that standard of proof.

The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), which had originally recommended that Petacchi be banned from cycling for 12 months, opted to appeal the FCI decision. But after a hearing with Petacchi on Saturday, the FCI claimed it was not in a position to deal with appeals of doping cases concerning international athletes, and ruled that CONI should lodge its appeal with CAS.

Will Gerolsteiner renew?
The Gerolsteiner team will find out in three weeks whether the its title sponsor, the German mineral water company, will extend its contact. Team manager, Hans-Michael Holczer, told daily German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau that the squad will soon to discover if its sponsorship deal, set to expire at the end of 2008, will be renewed.

"We are all going to sit down together (with the bosses of Gerolsteiner) and they are going to tell us what decision they are going to make," said Holczer.

Following a string of painful revelations over the past year, German cycling's image has taken a hammering, but Gerolsteiner was one of few teams unaffected.

Although German cellular company T-Mobile decided to continue its sponsorship of the team which bears its name, despite rider Patrik Sinkewitz failing a drugs test, Holczer is taking nothing for granted.

"It will come down to the company's consumers to decide if they are going to continue the commitment beyond 2008," said Holczer.

Holczer added that despite the numerous problems the Tour de France suffered, he still felt this year's race had not been "a disaster or a scandal; it was probably the cleanest Tour we have seen for a long time."

Jimenez wins stage, Barbosa leads in Portugal
Spaniard Eladio Jimenez (Karpin-Galicia) won the sixth stage of the Volta a Portugal on Saturday.

Portugal’s Candido Barbosa retained the yellow jersey after the 143km stage, run between Celorico de Basto and Mondim de Basto.

Sunday’s seventh stage is a 168km leg between Lixa and Gondomar.

Volta a Portugal
Stage 6
1. Eladio Jimenez (Sp), Karpin-Galicia, 143km in 3:54:28 (36.6 km/h)
2. José Azevedo (Por), at 0:06
3. Candido Barbosa (Por), at 0:11

Overall
1. Candido Barbosa (Por), Liberty Seguros, 27:50:06
2. Eladio Jimenez (Sp), at 0:09
3. José Azevedo (Por), at 0:22

Bosisio wins Tour du Latium
Italian Daniele Bosisio (Tenax) won the 73rd edition of the Tour du Latium on Saturday.

Bosisio, 27, outsprinted compatriot Emanuele Sella and Bélarus’s Branislau Samoilau to win the 196km race between Palestrina and Rocca Priora.

Tour du Latium
1. Daniele Bosisio (I), Tenax, 196km in 5:08:33 (38.1 km/h)
2. Emanuele Sella (I), same time
3. Branislau Samoilau (Blr), s.t.
4. Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr), s.t.
5. Ruslan Pidgornyy (Ukr), s.t.