Career
After starting his career in good form, in 2006, Scarponi was implicated in the Operación Puerto doping case. Despite this, and Scarponi's Liberty Seguros-Würth cycling team folding, Scarponi was able to secure a contract with Acqua & Sapone.
Despite a promising start to the 2007 season, Scarponi was once again implicated in the Operación Puerto case. On 8 May 2007, Scarponi confessed his role in the case. On 15 May, Scarponi was provisionally suspended.
With the rider completing his ban, Diquigiovanni-Androni announced on 13 June 2008 that they had signed Scarponi for the coming two seasons. In 2009, Scarponi won the Tirreno-Adriatico and also won 2 stages in the Giro d'Italia.
In 2010, he awarded himself a second place finish in the Tirreno-Adriatico. He also finished fourth overall in the Giro d'Italia. In that race, he took a prestigious victory in the epic stage 19, where he went clear of the field on the Mortirolo Pass with two Liquigas-Doimo teammates, Vincenzo Nibali and Ivan Basso. Basso was attempting to take the overall lead, so Nibali and him made most of the work during the dangerous descent and subsequent uphill ride to Aprica, leaving Scarponi fresh enough to out sprint the pair. Scarponi also achieved a victory in the Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda.
In 2011, Scarponi moved to Lampre-ISD where he won the Giro del Trentino and the Volta a Catalunya. Then in the Giro d'Italia he finished second overall behind Alberto Contador. Contador was later stripped from the title, which was therefore assigned to Scarponi. He then tried to defend his Giro title in 2012, but later finished 4th overall with Canadian Ryder Hesjedal taking the overall win. After the Giro, Scarponi then decided to focus on the Tour. However Scarponi could only end up finishing 24th overall.
Scarponi was temporarily suspended by his team in November 2012 after he admitted performing tests with Michele Ferrari, a doctor whose name has been linked to numerous cases of doping in cycling. His salary at the time was disclosed, which was 700,000 Euros a year.
Read more about this topic: Michele Scarponi
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