# Giampaolo Caruso

Giampaolo Caruso (born 15 August 1980) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2015 for the Würth, Lampre–Fondital, LPR Brakes–Ballan, Ceramica Flaminia and Team Katusha squads.
During his professional career, Caruso took five victories – all coming in Italy – with three stage wins and the general classification at the 2009 Brixia Tour, and a one-day race success at the 2014 Milano–Torino. He was also twice suspended for doping violations – in 2003, he was given a six-month ban for the use of nandrolone at the 2003 Tour Down Under, and in 2015, he was banned for two years after a positive drugs test for erythropoietin (EPO) recorded three years earlier.

## Career

Born in Avola, Caruso spent the first five years of his professional career with the ONCE–Eroski team. In 2003, Caruso initially won a stage of the Tour Down Under, but he tested positive for nandrolone at the race, and was stripped of this result – which was not publicly acknowledged by race organisers until 2012, in the wake of the Lance Armstrong doping case. He was accused in the Operación Puerto doping case, but his case was soon dropped by the Spanish federation. The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) wanted him suspended for two years, but he was acquitted of involvement by the Court for Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

### Ceramica Flaminia–Bossini Docce (2008–2010)

After a season with Lampre–Fondital in 2007, Caruso joined Ceramica Flaminia–Bossini Docce in May 2008. He had a contract with the team through 2011, but on 6 April 2010, after the Giro d'Italia organizers had announced that Ceramica Flaminia was not invited to the race, he was allowed to break his contract and to sign with Team Katusha, who assumed the contract through its duration.

### Team Katusha (2010–2015)

Team Katusha signed him mainly in order to be their general classification contender in the Giro d'Italia. In late 2011 he prolonged his contract for another season. During Stage 3 of the 2012 Tour de France many riders were involved in a crash, which led to Caruso having scrapes from another rider's chainring on his chest; he remained in the race, and finished his début Tour de France.
At the 2014 Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Caruso led out of the final corner in Ans, but was overtaken on the run to the finish line by winner Simon Gerrans, Alejandro Valverde and Michał Kwiatkowski, ultimately finishing fourth in the monument. On stage two of the Giro d'Italia Caruso crashed heavily in a feedzone which he went to hospital for in Northern Ireland, but did not pull out of the race until the race returned to Italy, following stage 6. In August 2014 Team Katusha announced they had extended Caruso's contract through to the end of 2016. Caruso's only one-day race win came at October's Milano–Torino where he beat Rinaldo Nocentini to the finish line by three seconds.
In August 2015, it was announced that Caruso had returned a positive test for EPO in March 2012. He was given a two-year ban, and he did not return to the professional peloton.

## Major results

Source:

### 2000

    1st Giro del Belvedere
    3rd Gran Premio di Poggiana

### 2001

    1st Road race, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
    2nd Road race, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships
    2nd Trofeo Banca Popolare di Vicenza
    3rd Giro del Belvedere
    4th Trofeo Alcide Degasperi
    5th Gran Premio Palio del Recioto

### 2002

    8th Overall Tour de l'Avenir
    9th Overall Paris–Corrèze

### 2003

    4th Overall Tour Down Under
       1st Stage 5
    4th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía

### 2004

    10th Amstel Gold Race
    10th Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia

### 2005

    4th Giro di Lombardia

### 2006

    8th Overall Tour de Suisse

### 2007

    5th Overall Tour of Slovenia

### 2008

    5th Overall Tour of Austria
    5th Giro dell'Emilia
    6th Overall Euskal Bizikleta
    8th Coppa Placci
    10th Overall GP CTT Correios de Portugal
    10th Giro dell'Appennino

### 2009

    1st Overall Brixia Tour
       1st Stages 1b, 2 & 4
    3rd Overall Route du Sud
    4th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore
    5th Trofeo Melinda
    7th Overall Tour of Austria
    7th Overall Giro del Trentino
    7th Giro dell'Appennino
    9th Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria
    10th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali

### 2010

    7th Overall Vuelta a Burgos
       1st Stage 3 (TTT)
    10th Giro di Lombardia

### 2012

    3rd Trofeo Melinda

### 2013

    4th Overall Vuelta a Burgos
    5th GP Miguel Induráin
    7th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato
    9th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore
    9th Strade Bianche

### 2014

    1st Milano–Torino
    4th Liège–Bastogne–Liège

### 2015

    6th Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
    10th Strade Bianche

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| Giro d'Italia | — | 19 | 12 | — | — | — | 46 | 42 | — | 41 | DNF | — |
| Tour de France | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 37 | — | — | 90 |
| / Vuelta a España | 72 | 59 | — | — | — | — | 36 | — | — | 49 | 15 | — |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |
| No. | Voided result |