Italian cyclist Marco Fertonani will serve a two-year ban for doping after a last-ditch appeal to the Italian Olympic Commitee (CONI) failed on Monday.

Fertonani, formerly of the Caisse d'Epargne team, failed a test for testosterone following his fourth-place finish in the Tour Mediterraneen in February 2007.

The 31-year-old appealed to CONI's appeals judge, claiming that the French laboratory at Chatenay-Malabry, which dealt with his samples, had made an error.