Giampaolo Caruso

Giampaolo Caruso (born 15 August 1980) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2015 for the, , , and  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 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. He was accused in the Operación Puerto doping case, but his case was soon dropped by the Spanish federation. 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).

Ceramica Flaminia–Bossini Docce (2008–2010)
After a season with in 2007, Caruso joined  in May 2008. He had a contract with the team through 2011, 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, who assumed the contract through its duration.

Team Katusha (2010–2015)
signed him mainly in order to be their general classification contender in the Giro d'Italia. 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, 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. On stage two of the Giro d'Italia Caruso crashed heavily in a feedzone which he went to hospital for in Northern Ireland, but did not pull out of the race until the race returned to Italy, following stage 6. In August 2014 announced they had extended Caruso's contract through to the end of 2016. 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.

In August 2015, it was announced that Caruso had returned a positive test for EPO in March 2012. He was given a two-year ban, and he did not return to the professional peloton.

Major results
Source:


 * 2000
 * 1st Giro del Belvedere
 * 3rd Gran Premio di Poggiana


 * 2001
 * 1st UEC Champion Jersey.svg Road race, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
 * 2nd Silver medal uci.svg 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 Under
 * 1st Stage 5
 * 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


 * 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