Andrea Iannone: ‘After 4 long and difficult years, I am free again’

The Italian was initially handed an 18-month ban by the FIM, which was then increased to four years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after a successful appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Iannone, who was a factory Aprilia MotoGP rider, had also tried to appeal against the 18-month ban, saying he had unknowingly ingested the banned steroid Drostanolone by eating contaminated meat while in Malaysia for the 2019 grand prix.

But the CAS decided that: 'Andrea Iannone has not been able to provide any convincing evidence to establish that the ADRV [anti-doping rule violation] he committed was unintentional’.

'Accordingly, the Panel found... that the ADRV committed by Andrea Iannone was to be treated as intentional for purposes of the applicable anti-doping rules, and therefore upheld WADA’s Appeal.'

Iannone - a winner of 4 125 GPs, 8 Moto2 GPs, plus a MotoGP victory with Ducati - was thus unable to race again until the 2024 season.

Despite his years away from track, ‘The Maniac’ swiftly found a world championship seat for 2024, when he will make his World Superbike debut with GoEleven Ducati.

Although he has already tested for the team, Iannone marked his first official day of ‘freedom’ with the following post on Instagram:

“After 4 long and difficult years, from today I am free again. Good luck to me!”