ASD Crocelle Race Team director and amateur MTB competitor Pietro Caliendo, 49, has been suspended by the Italian National Anti Doping Organization (NADO) as a precautionary measure after testing positive for Cocaine, a Substance of Abuse, according to a NADO press release.

NADO ordered and carried out the anti-doping test, which revealed the presence of Cocaine Metabolites Benzoylecgonine, a violation of World Anti Doping Code (WADA) rule 2.1 – presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers in an athlete’s sample.

Cocaine is on the WADA 2023 Prohibited List for In-Competition use and identified as a Substance of Abuse “because [it is] frequently abused in society outside the context of sport.”

Violations involving a Substance of Abuse where the athlete can establish that use occurred Out-of-Competition and was unrelated to sport performance will result in a three month competitive ban, less if the athlete seeks addiction treatment. For In-Competition use violations, if the athlete can established that using the Substance of Abuse was not performance enhancing, then the anti-doping violation will not be considered intentional, which means a two-year ban will be handed out.

For Cocaine the following urinary concentrations are considered In-Competition use: “presence of the parent Cocaine compound above > 10 ng/mL; or presence of benzoylecgonine (metabolite of Cocaine) > 1000 ng/mL combined with the presence of Cocaine parent compound between ≥ 1 ng/mL and ≤ 10 ng/mL.”

NADO has not disclose whether Caliendo’s anti-doping violation was In-Competition or Out-of-Competition, nor have they set a hearing date.

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