Annalisa Cucinotta tests positive

[Skip Madness]

According to Photo de Cola (scroll down):

Presunta positività per la friulana Annalisa Cucinotta. La pistard azzurra sarebbe risultata positiva al controllo antidoping effettuato al termine della prova di Coppa del Mondo di Cali, in Colombia, vinta proprio dall’azzurra, disputata tra l’11 ed il 13 dicembre

The Friulian cyclist Annalisa Cucinotta has given a positive control. The Italian track rider tested positive in an anti-doping control taken at the Track World Cup in Cali, Colombia, run from 11-13 December.

In Cali she won a gold medal in the scratch race and bronze in the team pursuit.

She was scheduled to join Top Girls - Fassa Bortolo this season after three years at Michela Fanini. Her biggest results on the road are two stage wins at the 2006 Eko Tour Dookola and a second place in the 2006 GP Liberazione, which she finished fourth in last year. She also won the Classica Città di Padova last year.

I cannot see what she has tested positive for yet, and her B sample is yet to receive a counter-analysis.

Edit: According to L'Équipe, the substance is boldenone, an anabolic steroid.

 

[Chuffy]

Anabolic steroids? So 70s! I mean, really, wtf?

 

[Crackle]

Anabolic steroids? So 70s! I mean, really, wtf?

Is she another Italian sprinter?

 

[yenrod]

I heard that women who take steroids develop big clitoris's

 

[Keith Oates]

Don't believe everything you hear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[yenrod]

Don't believe everything you hear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See, more like.

 

[yello]

I heard that women who take steroids develop big clitoris's

Bloody weird the things you overhear in a Post Office queue.

 

[Skip Madness]

According to Cicloweb: "The UCI has opened the door to doubts."

There is an unexpected development in the case of Annalisa Cucinotta. The UCI contacted the Italian cycling federation yesterday asking them to suspend the request for a counter-analysis. This would indicate that the UCI has sufficient doubts over the results of the first test that it wants to provide an external analysis.
The confusion over the original results expressed from the national federation and above all from the athlete concerned therefore may yet be vindicated by the decision of the UCI which, following the proper procedure, has at least opened the door to doubts over the results.

 

[Cathryn]

Slightly random, bt her surname means 'fox cub'. Fab surname. I might adopt it!

 

[Skip Madness]

An update from Cicloweb:

Yesterday, the UCI... requested the transfer of Cucinotta's first sample, taken after her victory in Colombia, from the laboratory of Los Angeles (US) to one in Cologne in Germany for a better assessment of the first analysis, which appeared not to have convinced the UCI. The Cologne laboratory specialises in the study and detection of boldenone.

Unfortunately, the federation has still not yet confirmed the precise date of the new analysis... meaning that Cucinotta's chances of winning the World Cup have disappeared.

In any case, the suspension of the counter-analysis and the commencing of a more detailed assessment has given the Italian cyclist some reassurance: "I remain calm, I know I am clean and have not taken anything illegal. Anyone can see that my muscular mass and weight have remained exactly the same, when boldenone increases these things by 35%. Additionally, all of the preceding anti-doping controls - also taken from the end of October - have come back clean, despite boldenone apparently staying in the system for beyond 12 months."

...

"The fact that the UCI has suspended the counter-analysis for a better verification of the first analysis can be considered good news, because it indicates that the UCI has noticed that there is evidently some anomaly," commented Cucinotta's lawyer Alessandro Da Re. "The latest news of the transferral of the samples to the specialist laboratory in Cologne indicates as much."

 

[Skip Madness]

More news from Cicloweb:

The re-analysis of the sample in Cologne confirms the original result

After many day of waiting, the UCI has provided the result of the re-analysis of Cucinotta's first sample carried out in Cologne which, as expected, has returned the same result as the original test. The counter-analysis [N.B. - I presume this means the B-sample] will be carried out in an American laboratory in the middle of February, where Annalisa will obviously attend alongside her lawyer and a technician who are following the procedure to ensure it is proper. We await an exact date from the UCI.

Two years, I expect. Plus a very annoyed Lucio Rigato.

I wonder what the problem with the initial procedure was. In any case, it is disappointing news (although it is obviously good that cheats are being caught).

 

[Skip Madness]

I do not know if anyone else is still following this, but this statement put out by Cucinotta's management amused me:

Annalisa Cucinotta, along with her lawyer Alessandro Da Re and technician Dr. Giuseppe Pieraccini, has witnessed the counter-analysis carried out in the WADA laboratory in Los Angeles.

"The analysis has been carried out with the maximum rigour," said Dr. Pieraccini. "Now we are just waiting on the results”.

On this point there are two alternative scenarios for Cucinotta: the first, which we all hope for, is a negative result which would exonerate Cucinotta completely; the second would be an unfortunate confirmation of the first analysis, which would involve a probable request for a DNA test.

That being the case, Cucinotta would have to resort to an exterior investigation to try to prove that the substance had been inadvertently administered orally in food or drink, resulting in a positive test without providing any actual sporting advantage.

Were it to get to this point, it would get more complicated still: why would Cucinotta have used such a substance knowing full well that it would have returned a positive test without any biological benefit?

Yes, very complicated indeed. It is almost as if there is a much simpler explanation...

I mean don't get me wrong, she may be innocent, but we have seen lots of riders coming up with increasingly complicated reason for their positive tests before, and I find myself lathering up the shaving foam and reaching for Occam's razor.

 

[Skip Madness]

B-sample is positive:

The Friulian rider considers resorting to a DNA test

The counter-analysis procedure has confirmed the positive control given by Annalisa Cucinotta. Last December 12, after winning the scratch race in the Colombian round of the World Cup, a Los Angeles laboratory found traces of boldenone in the rider's urine, an anabolic steroid used exclusively in the veterinary field. Cucinotta - who turns 23 in two days' time - immediately demanded a counter-analysis, which was postponed by the UCI pending a re-evaluation of the rider's A-sample in a lab in Köln. After that test confirmed the initial positive, it cleared the way to test the B-sample - carried out in LA - which has also returned positive. Now Cucinotta, who faces a two-year suspension, is considering whether or not to carry out a DNA test

What is all this bluster about DNA tests? Is the idea that she thinks the sample might not be hers? Otherwise, how would a DNA test exonerate her?

 

[User169]

B-sample is positive:
What is all this bluster about DNA tests? Is the idea that she thinks the sample might not be hers? Otherwise, how would a DNA test exonerate her?

I think the only way it could help is, as you suggest, to show that the samples aren't hers