Yesterday it was expected that a ruling would be made in the Diego Ulissi case. After a hearing that lasted 3.5 hours, however, the ruling was postponed and according to a report in La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Italian will have to wait 9-12 months before he knows more about his fate.

Yesterday Diego Ulissi was accompanied by his lawyer Rocco Taminelli and expert Massimo Locatelli when he presented his defence for the president of the Swiss arbitration panel Henry Peter. The hearing started at 9.30 and ended at 13.00 after the judges had decided to postpone the decision, giving the defense the opportunity to subimt an additional statement.

However, La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Ulissi is likely to be totally acquitted for the positive test for Salbutamol that he delivered at the Giro d'Italia. According to the Italian newspaper, the Lampre-Merida rider is likely to be suspended for 9 to 12 months, with the ban starting in May when Ulissi tested positive. Such a sanction is likely to be accepted by both Ulissi and the UCI which means that the parties may avoid an appeal in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS.

Ulissi won two stages at the Giro d'Italia but a few days after his final win, an excessive amount of Salbutamol was found in one of his urine tests. He briefly returned to racing in September before the UCI banned him provisionally.