Cycling: Petacchi banned for excess

Italian cyclist Alessandro Petacchi will miss this year's Tour de France after the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned him until August 31 for testing positive for excess asthma medication in the Giro d'Italia last year.

CAS said it had imposed a one-year ban but had backdated the start to November 2007 and had also taken into account two months he did not race following the test.