UPDATE 23 October 2024: NADO Italia has banned Moris Sammassimo for 4 years after finding him guilty of Clenbuterol doping.
NADO Italia (National Anti-Doping Organization) announced the preliminarily suspension of Moris Sammassimo after the 47 year-old Italian tested positive for banned performance enhancing substance Clenbuterol.
Sammassimo (Hair Gallery Cycling Team) is the 2022 European Gran Fondo Men’s 45-49 Champion and a former pro who finished third at Paris-Roubaix U23 in 1998. In 2022 he returned to racing on the Italian gran fondo circuit, winning the European Fondo Championships at Gran Fondo Matildica, placing 8th at the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Trento and 4th at Gran Fondo Michele Scarponi.
Just prior to his preliminary suspension, Sammassimo finished 80th overall and 9th in his age category at Granfondo Terre dei Varano
It seems this is not Sammassimo’s first time caught up in doping allegations. In 2003 the Italian newspaper la tribuna di Treviso reported that he was implicated in doping activities as an amateur cyclist.
Gran Fondo Daily News reached out to the Hair Gallery Cycling Team for comment on Sammassimo’s alleged doping violation, but the team declined to comment.
Clenbuterol is an anabolic agent that is prescribed to treatment asthma, however, it has been widely abused by endurance athletes as a performance enhancing drug. Alberto Contador is the most famous cyclist caught using it. The doping violation earned him a two year ban and loss of two Grand Tour titles – 2010 Tour de France and 2011 Giro d’Italia.
A NADO hearing has yet to be scheduled for Sammassimo to present a defense of the alleged doping violation and await final judgement.
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