Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini) has become the second Vini Fantini rider to test positive for EPO in less than two weeks after the UCI today announced that the Italian failed a test after the first stage of the Giro d'Italia on May 4. He is now provisionally suspended until the Italian Cycling Federation determines whether he has committed an anti-doping rule violation.

When it was announced that Danilo Di Luca had tested positive for EPO just prior to this year's Giro, it gave a lot of negative publicity for the Italian grand tour and the Vini Fantini team. Since then the dust has settled but today both parties have once again been rocked by a major doping scandal.

This time it is the leader of the team at the three-week race, Mauro Santambrogio, who has tested positive for EPO. UCI has sent out a press release to inform the public that a sample taken at the end of the first stage on May 4 has shown a presence of the banned substance and so he has been provisionally suspended.

Santambrogio has been one of the revelations all season. Having worked as a loyal domestique at the BMC team for three seasons, he joined Vini Fantini to take up a leadership role. He was on fire right from the beginning and finished 6th in the Tour de San Luis in January.

He went on to finish 7th in a very strong field at the Tirreno-Adriatico before taking a break from competition to prepare for the Giro. He returned stronger than ever and finished an amazing 2nd in the Giro del Trentino behind Vincenzo Nibali before going on to win the GP Industria and Artigianato one-day race.

His impressive performances continued at the Italian grand tour where he won the tough mountain stage to the top of the Jafferau climb when he was the only one able to follow Nibali on the steep slopes. He faded in the final week but brought home a solid 9th place to reach his goal of a top 10 finish.

If the B sample confirms the result and the Italian Cycling Federation determines that he has committed an anti-doping rule violation, it now appears that those impressive results have not been obtained in a legal manner.

The Vini Fantini has not yet responded to today's news.