 Caruso at the 2015 Tour de France | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Giampaolo Caruso |
| Born | 15 August 1980 Avola, Italy |
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) |
| Weight | 70 kg (154 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Climber |
| Professional teams | |
| 2002–2006 | ONCE–Eroski |
| 2007 | Lampre–Fondital |
| 2008–2010 | Ceramica Flaminia–Bossini Docce |
| 2010–2015 | Team Katusha[1] |
| Major wins | |
| One-day races and Classics | |
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.[2] He was accused in the Operación Puerto doping case, but his case was soon dropped by the Spanish federation.[3] 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).[4]
Ceramica Flaminia–Bossini Docce (2008–2010)
After a season with Lampre–Fondital in 2007,[5] Caruso joined Ceramica Flaminia–Bossini Docce in May 2008. He had a contract with the team through 2011,[6] 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.[7]
Team Katusha (2010–2015)
Team Katusha signed him mainly in order to be their general classification contender in the Giro d'Italia.[7] 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,[8] 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.[9] On stage two of the Giro d'Italia Caruso crashed heavily in a feedzone which he went to hospital for in Northern Ireland,[10] 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.[11] 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.[12]
In August 2015, it was announced that Caruso had returned a positive test for EPO in March 2012.[13] He was given a two-year ban,[14] and he did not return to the professional peloton.
Major results
Source: [15]
- 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 Under1st Stage 5[2]
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[14]- 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
.jpg.webp)
| 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 |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 90 | |
 / Vuelta a España |
72 | 59 | — | — | — | — | 36 | — | — | 49 | 15 | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
| Voided result |
See also
References
- ↑ "Team Katusha (KAT) – RUS". UCI World Tour. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
- 1 2 Val Migliaccio (11 October 2012). "Cycling body in disgrace after Tour Down Under stage winner exposed as drug cheat". heraldsun.com.au. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
- ↑ Kenny, John (1 August 2006). "Caruso case dropped by Spanish federation". Cycling news. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
- ↑ Zalewski, Mark (23 January 2009). "Caruso acquitted of Puerto involvement". Cycling news. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
- ↑ "Lampre sign Caruso". Eurosport. TF1 Group. 14 November 2006. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
- ↑ Brown, Gregor (10 November 2009). "Giampaolo Caruso renews with Ceramica Flaminia for two years". Cycling news. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
- 1 2 Stephen Farrand (6 April 2010). "Katusha signs Giampaolo Caruso". Cycling news. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
- ↑ "Tjallingii, Rojas out after crash-filled Tour de France stage". cyclingnews.com. 3 July 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
- ↑ "Caruso the almost man for Katusha at Liège-Bastogne-Liege". cyclingnews.com. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
- ↑ "Giampaolo Caruso in doubt for Italian stages after Giro crash". cyclingnews.com. 11 May 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
- ↑ "Transfers: Caruso, Vermote extend for two years". cyclingnews.com. 13 August 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
- ↑ Wynn, Nigel (1 October 2014). "Giampaolo Caruso wins Milan-Turin". cyclingweekly.com. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
- ↑ "Giampaolo Caruso returns positive EPO test". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. 18 August 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
- 1 2 "Giampaolo Caruso handed two-year ban for 2012 EPO positive test". cyclingnews.com. 16 June 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
- ↑ "Giampaolo Caruso". FirstCycling.com. FirstCycling AS. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
External links
Media related to Giampaolo Caruso at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Giampaolo Caruso at UCI
- Giampaolo Caruso at Cycling Archives
- Giampaolo Caruso at ProCyclingStats
- Giampaolo Caruso at Cycling Quotient
- Giampaolo Caruso at CycleBase
- Giampaolo Caruso at trap-friis.dk