Cycling: Armstrong's doctor cast aside

Six-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has cut his ties with controversial Italian sports doctor Michele Ferrari following the doctor's conviction for doping-related offences in Italy.

Ferrari was convicted of "sporting fraud" and "abuse of the medical profession" by Judge Maurizio Passarini in Bologna, who gave him a one-year suspended jail sentence, banned him from working as a doctor for 11 months and 21 days, and fined him €900.

It is the first time a doctor has been found guilty of sporting fraud in Italy, a charge which covers helping riders to dope and thereby win races fraudulently.

Ferrari has worked with Armstrong since 1995.