Before Christmas, we told you roadracer Andrea Iannone had been indefinitely suspended by MotoGP, over a positive doping sample. Now, the news has gotten worse: his secondary sample has also come back positive.
Iannone’s urine sample was taken at the Sepang round, and came back positive for an anabolic steroid (drostanolone, according to the scuttlebutt). At that point, Iannone was suspended, pending the results of his secondary sample. The bad news now is that Iannone’s second sample was also found to contain steroids, meaning he’s facing a four-year suspension.
Iannone is saying he’s innocent, that any contamination would have come by accident, possibly through food that he ate. But as David Emmett points out in his excellent analysis on MotoMatters, such things do occasionally happen, but rarely with drostanolone. And even if it was the case, it’s up to Iannone to prove it, and it seems he’s unable to do so at this point.
Iannone’s results haven’t been officially announced yet; they were revealed to Italian media through his lawyer. He can appeal his suspension once those results are officially revealed. However, for now, he’s sitting and waiting, while the Aprilia factory team must decide its approach to the upcoming test season.
