The Court of Arbitration for Sport will consider its decision on Alessandro Petacchi's doping case after a hearing.

"It was a long hearing at which all the various aspects of the affair were analysed," a spokesman for Petacchi's Milram team said.

"The judges said there should be a decision in three or four weeks."

The Italian Olympic Committee appealed to the Lausanne-based court after the Italian Cycling Federation refused its request to ban Petacchi for a year for testing positive for salbutamol during last year's Giro d'Italia.

The FCI upheld the sprinter's defence that he used the substance in his asthma inhaler, for which he had a medical certificate, and that any overuse was human error.

Petacchi was forced to miss last year's Tour de France because of the doping case brought by CONI, the governing body for all sport in Italy.

Cycling has been rocked by a series of doping scandals in recent years and Italy has been hit especially hard.

Ivan Basso, Giro winner in 2006, is serving a two-year ban for his involvement in Spain's Operation Puerto scandal.

Basso denied taking banned substances but admitted he had intended to commit a doping offence.

Danilo Di Luca is also waiting to find out from a CONI commission if he will face a two-year doping ban after officials said he had abnormal hormone levels in a test during last year's Giro, which he won.

The Italian rider, who has contested the results, has been granted a hearing on April 16.

Di Luca is additionally awaiting a CAS ruling on his appeal against an already-served three-month ban he was given in October for his links to Carlo Santuccione, a doctor accused of supplying doping products to athletes.

On Wednesday, the CAS is scheduled to hear former pole vault world champion Giuseppe Gibilisco's appeal against a two-year ban from CONI for links to Santuccione.

Reuters