Lorenzo Bernucci

Lorenzo Bernucci (born 15 September 1979 in Sarzana) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He rose to international prominence when he won stage 6 of the 2005 Tour de France, when riding for .

Career

He started his professional career with LandbouwkredietÃ¢ÂÂColnago in 2002 before joining Fassa Bortolo in 2005. Upon Fassa's demise at the end of 2005, Bernucci secured a contract with T-Mobile. Bernucci was fired from T-Mobile in September 2007 after testing positive for Sibutramine. Bernucci admitted to taking the weight control drug and said he had been taking it for four years, unaware it had been added to the list of banned substances in 2006. T-Mobile judged he had broken the internal code of conduct so fire him immediately.

In February 2011, Bernucci was banned from cycling for five years. After his house was raided in 2010, prohibited substances were found and he was banned for 'the use or attempted use by an athlete of a prohibited substance or method, as well as the possession of prohibited substances'. Several members of his family were also banned for either three or four years due to their involvement.