Former Saunier Duval climber Leonardo Piepoli failed to turn up for his Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) doping hearing on Wednesday, the Italian news agency Ansa reported.

Piepoli was due to face charges that he had taken the new generation of the blood booster EPO during the Tour de France in July.

The 37-year-old did not actually fail a dope test during the Tour, during which he won the 10th stage, but he was fired by his Saunier Duval team for breaking their code of ethics after they had pulled out of the Tour following teammate Ricardo Riccò’s positive test for a new drug known as a Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator (CERA).

However, on October 6 the French Anti-Doping Agency announced that Piepoli had also tested positive for CERA – a new version of EPO - in two re-tested blood samples from the Tour.

The two samples were taken from July 4, one day before the Tour began, and July 15, the day after Piepoli's win in the 10th stage.

Piepoli has already appeared before CONI to give evidence in the case against Riccò, who admitted to doping and was handed a two-year suspension on October 2.

Piepoli has always denied taking any banned substances despite an earlier Spanish newspaper report claiming he had admitted to using CERA.