Top professionals like Lance Armstrong are not the only competitive cyclists to be stripped of championship titles for doping, amateurs can loose them as well.

After the Italian National Anti-Doping Tribunal found 34 year-old amateur cyclist Gianbernardino Velotti guilty of violating anti-doping rules and issued an 8 year ban following a positive test for Erythropoietin (EPO), the Italian Cycling Federation National Sports Judge has now stripped Velotti of his 2025 Italian National Championship title and Tricolore jersey.

The official statement issued by the FCI National Sports Judge “declares that the position achieved by Mr. GIANBERNARDINO VELOTTI in the ITALIAN MEDIO [FONDO] DISTANCE CHAMPIONSHIP race is [now] acquired by the [next] athlete immediately after him…”

The new 2025 Italian Medio Fondo National Champion in the M1 category is 34 year-old Stefano Bartolotta, who now adds a second Tricolore jersey to his closet after also winning the Italian National Hillclimb Championship.

This was not Gianbernardino Velotti’s first anti-doping incident, just days prior to winning the Medio Fondo Championship he finished serving a 3 year ban for refusing or failing to submit anti-doping samples when required – a World Anti-Doping Agency 2.3 violation.

Photo Credit: Facebook/granfondo.lamedievale – Spaletta Stephan Photo

© 2019-2025 All Rights Reserved Gran Fondo Daily