The UCI has handed a four-year suspension to Italian Giovanni Carboni after deeming abnormalities in his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) to be an anti-doping rule violation, the International Testing Agency (ITA) announced on Thursday.
"A review of the rider's haematological biological passport by the Athlete Passport Management Unit returned an Adverse Passport Finding for abnormalities in the values of the blood ABP," the ITA press release stated.
"More particularly, a panel of independent experts unanimously concluded that the abnormalities in the rider's ABP during and after the 2024 Tour of Langkawi, respectively, were highly likely caused by the use of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method."
Carboni was racing for the Japanese Continental team JCL Team UKYO in 2024, but the case came out after he had signed for the Unibet Rockets team and raced most of the 2025 season. When the UCI announced the provisional suspension, his team also suspended him, stating, "As a member of the MPCC, we fully support clean sport and therefore cooperate with all investigations conducted by the relevant authorities. Additionally, we have launched an additional internal examination.
"We are shocked by this news, as it goes against our values and principles. We remain fully committed to transparency, integrity, and the fight for a clean sport."
Carboni won two stages and the Tour of Japan overall and one stage and second place overall in the Tour of Bulgaria in 2024, and will get to keep those results. However, the UCI has stripped his results from the 2024 Tour de Langkawi through Carboni's last day of racing on September 11, 2025.
Carboni's four-year ban runs from his last day of racing through September 10, 2029.
The suspension came out of a hearing on August 3, 2026, during which the UCI Anti-doping Tribunal "found that the athlete had committed an ADRV for the use of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method in accordance with Article 2.2 of the UCI anti-doping rules".
The ABP measures blood values such as haematocrit and haemoglobin over time. Abnormal shifts can indicate the use of banned substances or methods such as blood boosters like EPO or blood transfusions.
Carboni, 30, has the right to appeal the decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The case is the third recent ABP suspension after Franck Bonnamour was banned last year through 2028 and Robert Stannard received a post-dated four-year ban for abnormalities dating back to 2018 in 2024.
