Italian Francesco Reda takes the opening stage of the An Post Rás in May, but now news has emerged of a positive EPO test one month after this victory (Photo: Paul Mohan – Sportsfile)
The winner of the opening stage of the An Post Rás and first yellow jersey of the event back in May, Francesco Reda, has tested positive for EPO.
The Italian, who riders for Team IDEA 2010 ASD, returned the positive result in a sample taken at the Italian national road race championships on June 27th.
He was 2nd to Vincenzo Nibali of Astana in that event, which took place one month after the An Post Rás.
The Italian Olympic Committee has said he tested positive for NESP, a form of EPO.
Reda was disqualified from the An Post Rás on stage 2 when he was adjudged to have taken a prolonged tow from a vehicle after puncturing.
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He ignored a warning to desist holding on to his team vehicle as he was brought back up to the bunch at a key moment close to the end of the stage.
Reda wearing the An Post Rás yellow jersey on stage 2 just before he was caught holding onto a car and disqualified (Photo: Paul Mohan - Sportsfile)
His winning the opening Rás stage was an embarrassment to the race because of his doping-related past.
Unusually, no photos were issued of him after stage 1 being presented with his yellow jersey on the podium, which is always heavily branded with sponsor An Post's livery and logo.
Reda had only just returned to competition before the Irish eight-day after serving a ban for evading a doping test in 2013 when riding for the Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela team.
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However, that ban was reduced to 14 months when he cooperated with the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) into doping in pro cycling.
Because he has now fallen foul of the doping rules again -this time more conclusively - he faces a possible lifetime ban from the sport.
When he returned to racing after his reduced ban he enjoyed success immediately, winning the Trofeo Edil C in Italy and soon after capturing the first stage of the An Post Rás from Dunboyne to Carlow on Sunday, May 18th.
Alberto Elli, right, in Tour de France yellow in 2001 when riding for Telekom. He threatened to take his team off the Rás and was visibly irate at the stage finish in Tipperary after Reda was disqualified.
Reda escaped in a 15-man breakaway on the opening Rás stage and with 30km remaining he surged clear in a two-man move with Lukas Postlberger (Tirol Cycling).
They stayed away to the finish and gained 55 seconds on the other 13 riders they had been with, and gained over four minutes on the next group on the road.
When Reda was disqualified the next day after stage 2 from Carlow to Tipperary, the yellow jersey passed to Postlberger.
The Austrian held it all the way to the finish in Skerries, north Co Dublin, six days later.
When Reda was disqualified his manager Alberto Elli was asked to leave the race for the manner he which he remonstrated forcefully with Rás officials.
Elli is a past pro rider who was handed a suspended six month prison sentence in 2005 due to the seizure of doping products from his hotel room at the 2001 Giro d’Italia.
He threatened to take his team out of the race but the riders stayed and won stage 3 from Tipperary to Bearna via Matteo Malucelli.
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