Italian rider Giovanni Carboni (Unibet Tietema Rockets) has been provisionally suspended following 'unexplained abnormalities' in his Athlete Biological Passport dating back to 2024.
The Athlete Biological Passport monitors riders' biological markers to indirectly reveal the effects of doping, rather than detecting the doping substance itself.
A UCI statement read: "The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announces that Italian rider Giovanni Carboni has been provisionally suspended in accordance with the UCI Anti-Doping Rules, due to unexplained abnormalities in his Athlete Biological Passport in 2024.
"The UCI will not comment further while the proceedings are ongoing."
In 2024, Carboni won the Tour of Japan overall and two stages and a stage of the Tour of Bulgaria as well as second place overall while racing with the Japanese team JCL Team UKYO.
ProTeam Unibet Tietema Rockets were quick to respond to the provisional suspension, issuing a statement confirming an investigation into the finding, and suspending the rider with immediate effect.
"Today, we have been informed by the UCI that they assert that in a period prior to joining our team, rider Giovanni Carboni possibly committed an anti-doping rule violation," a team statement read.
"We have therefore decided to suspend him with immediate effect.
"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."
Sanctions based on findings from the Athlete Biological Passport at the top of the sport have been relatively rare in cycling. Robert Stannard recently returned to racing following a four-year suspension, which resulted from an abnormality in his Athlete Biological Passport.
Franck Bonnamour was given a four-year ban for passport abnormalities detected in samples from 2022 when he raced with B&B Hotels-KTM. His case came out after he had already retired.
Other low-level pros have been suspended in recent years as part of a Portuguese investigation, including Luís Mendoça, Luís Fernandes (Radio Popular-Boavista), Venceslau Fernandes (APHotels & Resorts/Tavira), Nuno Meireles, Luís Gomes (Kelly-Simoles-UDO), and Federico Figueiredo.
