Italian Alessandro Petacchi (Team Milram) was fired yesterday by his team after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled against him when he tested positive during last year's Giro for high levels of salbutamol, an asthma medication. Although the court ruled that he may not have knowingly taken the high doses of the medication, he was punished anyways because those levels constituted a performance enhancement. Petacchi's suspension is set to end on August 31st of this year since the ban was retroactive to when he tested positive.

Although sad for Petacchi, STL supports Milram's decision as there should be zero tolerance even if only for a stupid error. Milram's decision is also one of politics. In order to be guaranteed into the sport's top races, it has to show the organizers they are serious about anti-doping. Knowing that Astana was barred from the Tour de France for, what most people think, is one of the strongest anti-doping programs in the sport, no team wants to give ASO any fuel for the fire. STL knows that ASO will jump at any opportunity for excluding a non French team from their races.

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