Italian cyclist Danilo Di Luca has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for EPO ahead of the Giro d'Italia race.

Giro organizers Friday announced the news and said the former Giro winner was caught in an out-of-competition test at his home before this year's race.

It is Di Luca's third offense and may bring him a lifetime ban. It's also the second doping case from this year's Giro, after French rider Sylvain Georges tested positive for the banned stimulant Heptaminol in a urine sample after the seventh stage. The 28-year-old AG2R La Mondiale rider was immediately withdrawn from the race.

Di Luca was banned for using CERA in 2009 and after winning the 2007 Giro, Di Luca was banned for three months later in the year for frequent visits to Carlo Santuccione, a physician at the center of a four-year doping investigation titled Oil for Drugs.

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