The Italian Cycling Federation banned former Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso for two years Friday for his involvement in the Operacion Puerto doping scandal.
The move comes after the Italian star made a semi-confession last month.
He admitted that some of the blood bags uncovered by police probing the activities of the Spanish doctor at the centre of the scandal were his.
But the 29-year-old insisted that he had not used the blood bags for transfusions and said he had never taken performance-enhancing drugs.
He claimed all his career triumphs, including the 2006 Giro win, were clean.
Basso will be able to return to competition on October 24 2008.
This is because the Federation's disciplinary commission decided to count the 236 days Basso has already served in suspensions linked to the case as part of the two-year ban.
The decision to count time Basso has missed will be seen as an act of leniency in view of his cooperation with the Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping prosecutors.
The Operacion Puerto scandal blew up ahead of the 2006 Tour de France.
Basso and around 50 other professional riders were implicated and suspended by their teams as a precaution.
Among them were former Tour winner Jan Ullrich of Germany, who recently retired.
The Italian cyclist, who had previously denied any wrongdoing, said his 'attempt' at doping ahead of the 2006 Tour was an act of "weakness that will stay with me all of my life".
A prosecutor in northern Italy is investigating whether Basso broke Italy's strict anti-doping criminal laws.
RECENT SCANDALS IN THE SPORT.
The affair is another blow to the credibility of a sport that has been ravaged by a series of scandals in recent years.
The most illustrious, and ultimately tragic, victim of doping was Italy's Marco 'the Pirate' Pantani.
Pantani's career peaked when he won the Tour and the Giro in 1998, emulating legends like Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartoli - only to take a downturn into doping scandals when he was thrown off the 1999 Giro on the eve of winning it again.
After several aborted comebacks that disappointed his legions of fans, he died of a cocaine overdose in 2004.
