# Leonardo Piepoli

Leonardo Piepoli (born 29 September 1971 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland) is a former Italian professional road racing cyclist. He most recently rode for Saunier Duval–Scott on the UCI ProTour, but had his contract suspended in July 2008 during the Tour de France amid allegations of the use of the blood boosting drug EPO in the team. He was later suspended for two years, which effectively ended his career.

## Career

He is a record four-time winner (1995, 1999, 2003, 2004) of the Subida a Urkiola. Piepoli is a specialist climber, and this was shown in the 2006 Giro d'Italia, where he was one of the strongest riders in the mountains and won two stages. In the 2007 Giro d'Italia, Piepoli won the mountains classification. He has won stages in the Giro and the Vuelta a España. He also made himself famous by 'gifting' two stage victories to his team-mates Gilberto Simoni and Riccardo Riccò. During the Vuelta, Piepoli lead the mountains classification, but was forced to leave the race, citing 'family problems'
During the 2008 Giro d'Italia Piepoli crashed two times, leaving the race with three broken ribs and with his left hand fractured in two places.
In the 2008 Tour de France, Piepoli won the 10th stage, a mountain stage that climbed the legendary Hautacam, and also helped his team-mate Riccardo Riccò win two stages. Before the twelfth stage, Piepoli and the rest of his team stepped out of the race, after Riccò had tested positive for doping.

## Doping allegations

Piepoli was fired from Saunier Duval on 18 July 2008, for what his team called "violation of the team's ethical code." The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that Piepoli had confessed to EPO usage, using the same third generation form (CERA) for which his teammate Riccardo Riccò tested positive, but he denied this at the Italian National Olympic Committee's investigation into Riccò's case. On 6 October 2008, it was announced that two of Piepoli's samples from the Tour de France had also tested positive for CERA EPO. In a 7 January 2009 interview with the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, Piepoli acknowledged that he had used CERA in "a moment of weakness". In January 2009, he was suspended from the sport for two years.

## Career achievements
### Major results
#### 1995

    1st Subida a Urkiola
    1st Mountains classification, Tour de Suisse

#### 1998

    2nd Overall Vuelta a Burgos
       1st Stage 4
    3rd Clásica San Sebastián

#### 1999

    1st Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León
       1st Stage 2
    1st Subida a Urkiola
    1st Stage 4 Vuelta a Burgos

#### 2000

    1st Overall Vuelta a Burgos
       1st Mountains classification
    1st Overall Vuelta a Aragón
    2nd Subida a Urkiola
    10th Overall Giro d'Italia

#### 2002

    1st Overall Vuelta a Aragón
       1st Stage 1
    1st Overall Vuelta Asturias
       1st Stage 4

#### 2003

    1st Overall Vuelta a Aragón
       1st Stage 1
    1st Subida a Urkiola
    1st Subida al Naranco

#### 2004

    1st Subida a Urkiola
    1st Stage 9 Vuelta a España
    3rd Overall Tour de Romandie
    3rd Overall Vuelta a Burgos
    3rd Overall Vuelta a Aragón
    3rd Subida al Naranco

#### 2005

    2nd Overall Volta a Catalunya
       1st Stage 4
    10th Overall Tour de Suisse

#### 2006

    Giro d'Italia
       1st Stage 13 & 17
    8th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré

#### 2007

    Giro d'Italia
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stage 10
    1st Stage 9 Vuelta a España

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Giro d'Italia | DNF | 38 | DNF | 16 | DNF | 10 | DNF | — | — | — | — | 11 | 14 | DNF |
| Tour de France | — | 17 | — | 14 | — | DNF | 44 | — | — | — | 23 | — | — | DNF |
| Vuelta a España | — | — | 26 | — | 8 | — | — | — | 23 | 27 | 35 | 13 | DNF | — |
DNF - Did not finish