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**Leonardo Piepoli**
Personal information
Full name	Leonardo Piepoli
Date of birth	September 29, 1971 (age 38)
Country	Italy
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 71⁄2 in)
Weight	52 kg (110 lb; 8.2 st)
Team information
Current team	None
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climbing specialist
Professional team(s)1
1995–1997; 1998; 1999–2003; 2004–2007; 2008	Refin; Saeco; Banesto; Saunier Duval-Prodir; Saunier Duval Scott
Major wins
	Tour de France, 1 stage; Giro d'Italia, 3 stages; Vuelta a España, 2 stages; Subida a Urkiola (1995, 1999, 2003, 2004)
	Infobox last updated on:
	September 9, 2007 1 Team names given are those prevailing; at time of rider beginning association with that team.

Leonardo Piepoli (born September 29, 1971 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland) is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. He most recently rode for the Saunier Duval-Prodir Team on the UCI ProTour, but had his contract suspended in July 2008 during the Tour de France amid allegations of the use of the blood boosting drug EPO in the team.

[edit] Career

He is a record four-time winner (1995, 1999, 2003, 2004) of the Subida a Urkiola. Piepoli is a specialist climber, and this was shown in the 2006 Giro d'Italia, where he was one of the strongest riders in the mountains and won two stages. Leonardo became the 2007 Giro d'Italia Mountains classification winner. He has won stages in the Giro, the Tour de France, and the Vuelta a España. He also made himself famous by 'gifting' two stage victories to his team-mates Gilberto Simoni and Riccardo Riccò. During the Vuelta, Piepoli reached the King of Mountains Classification top position, but was forced to leave the race, citing 'family problems'

During the 2008 Giro d'Italia Piepoli crashed two times, leaving the race with three broken ribs and with his left hand fractured in two places.

In the 2008 Tour de France, Piepoli won the 10th stage, a mountain stage that climbed the legendary Hautacam, and also helped his team-mate Riccardo Riccò win two stages. Before the twelfth stage, Piepoli and the rest of his team stepped out of the race, after Riccò had tested positive for doping.

[edit] Doping Allegations

Piepoli was fired from Saunier Duval on July 18, 2008, for what his team called "violation of the team's ethical code." The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that Piepoli had confessed to EPO usage, using the same third generation form (CERA) for which his teammate Riccardo Riccò tested positive,^[1] but he denied this at the Italian National Olympic Committee's investigation into Riccò's case. On October 6 2008, it was announced that two of Piepoli's samples from the Tour de France had also tested positive for CERA EPO. ^[2] In a January 7, 2009 interview with the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, Piepoli acknowledged that he had used CERA in "a moment of weakness". He is expected to be banned from the sport for two years.^[3]