Cycling: Simoni tests positive for cocaine

What little credibility remained for the Giro D'Italia was all but shattered yesterday when it was revealed that the 2001 winner, Gilberto Simoni, had tested positive for cocaine.

Simoni was caught out on the eve of the Tour of Trentino stage race in April. Tour de France organisers said a ban may result in his Saeco team's exclusion from this year's race, which was admitted specifically to include him.

The Giro was already reeling from the news on Tuesday that the 2000 winner, Stefano Garzelli, would miss the race due to a positive test for probenecid, a masking agent.Simoni also had an excuse, namely that he had been to the dentist the same day he was tested, and yesterday Saeco produced a copy of a dentist's letter confirming that in the course of treatment, he administered the local anaesthetic carbocaine – which can produce a positive test for the better known drug. Medical sources yesterday failed to agree on the validity of this theory.

Australia's Robbie McEwen won yesterday's 10th stage, from Maddaloni to Benevento.

Alasdair Fotheringham writes for Cycling Weekly