Danilo Di Luca

Who is Danilo Di Luca?

Danilo Di Luca is a former Italian professional road racing cyclist, best known for winning the 2007 Giro d'Italia, but also for several positive doping tests, the last of which resulting in a lifetime ban from the sport.

Di Luca is also one of six riders to have won each of the three Ardennes classics; he won the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne in 2005, and Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2007. During his career, Di Luca rode for the Riso Scotti, Cantina Tollo-Acqua e Sapone, Saeco Macchine per Caffè, Liquigas, LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini, Team Katusha, Acqua & Sapone and Vini Fantini-Selle Italia squads.

Di Luca's career was also dogged by numerous infractions, involving three separate suspensions in relation to doping. In 2007, Di Luca was suspended for three months towards the end of the season, for visiting previously banned doctor Carlo Santuccione, which later escalated into the Oil for Drugs case. In 2009, at the Giro d'Italia, Di Luca tested positive on two different occasions for CERA, and was given a backdated – to July 2009 – two-year ban in February 2010, which was later reduced to nine months. His third positive test came just before the 2013 Giro d'Italia, when he tested positive for erythropoietin in an out-of-competition test. Di Luca expressed surprise at the test results, but he was given a lifetime ban in December 2013.