Italian champ's drug ban doubled on appeal

Italian former women’s road race champion Marta Bastianelli has had a drug ban doubled following an appeal by the International Cycling Union (UCI).

Bastianelli, who took gold during the UCI World Championships in Stuttgart two years ago, was initially banned for a year by the Italian Olympic Committee after testing positive for flenfluramine last July. The tribunal said Bastianelli had committed an offence but said it occurred "despite a lack of significant fault or negligence" on Bastianelli's part and suspended her for one year.

The 22-year-old said she unknowingly took the stimulant in a diet product. Following her conviction she appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to have the decision annulled.

In December, however, the UCI filed an appeal requesting to increase the sanction and the Swiss-based CAS partially upheld it, saying she was banned from races for two years, retroactive to July 5 last year.

The arbitration court said investigators determined Bastianelli failed to check whether the medication contained a banned substance through "her own fault and negligence".