Rome - Retests of samples from the 2008 Giro d'Italia have led to suspicion of doping with the blood booster CERA, the Gazzela dello Sport daily reported on Friday. Citing prosecutors in Padova, Gazzetta said that six or seven riders could have used this latest-generation EPO in last year's race.
The report said that prosecutors ordered retests of 82 samples after rider Emanuele Sella had confessed to doping.
CERA doping was first revealed at the 2008 Tour de France, which took place several weeks after the Giro, where a test method for the substance was not yet available.
The test results from Italy are now to be compared with results from the same riders stored in a doping lab in Lausanne, Switzerland, with the help of the ruling cycling body UCI.
Results are expected within a few months, the report said.
Alberto Contador of Spain won the 2008 Giro from Italians Riccardo Ricco and Marzio Bruseghin.
Ricco then tested positive for CERA at the 2008 Tour and was banned. Another Italian, Danilo di Luca, was caught using CERA this year.
