Racing: Doping dismay for Garzelli

The rider who is second in the Giro d'Italia cycling tour, Stefano Garzelli, has failed a dope test.

Mapei team officials said the Italian rider, who won the Giro in 2000, had tested positive for probenecid, a diuretic and masking agent.

Garzelli, who slipped to second place after finishing in the main group in yesterday's sixth stage, would be allowed to continue pending the outcome of a second analysis of his sample in Lausanne on Wednesday.

The Mapei team said they were surprised by the results of the initial test, which was carried out after Wednesday's stage to Liege, in Belgium.

A tearful Garzelli insisted: "My conscience is clear. I would be an idiot to ruin the race, my career and my life for something like this."