Former disco manager Fabio Carlino has been jailed for four and a half years for dealing drugs and contributing to the death of 1998 Tour De France winner Marco Pantani, the lawyer for the cyclist's family said.

Pantani, who also won the Giro d'Italia in 1998, died of a cocaine overdose on February 14 2004.

His family will receive 300,000 euros in damages. Elena Korovina, a Russian escort, was acquitted of drug dealing at the hearing in Rimini.

Pantani's mother, Tonina, said questions still needed to be answered about her son's death.

"There are too many mysteries, to start with what happened between Feb. 6 when my son bought the cocaine and February 14 when he died. I will not give up, I want the truth," she said.

Family lawyer Danilo Mastrocinque told Reuters: "That is the end of the matter for now. We will see about the future."

Drug problems have continued to dog Italian cycling since Pantani's death.

The 2006 Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso is serving a two-year ban for attempted doping for his involvement in the Operation Puerto doping scandal in Spain.

The Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri told Italian radio on Monday he wanted to talk to Spanish doctors and athletes involved in the scandal as he seeks to open a fresh investigation in Italy.

Reuters