Hamilton, the 2004 Olympic road race champion, recently returned to competition after serving a two-year ban for blood doping.

"The management of Tinkoff Credit Systems, as a precaution, has decided to suspend the two riders until the relevant authorities clarify the position of the two riders in connection with Operation Puerto," the Italian-Russian team said in a statement.

The move came three days before the start of the Giro, one of the world's three premier multistage tours. Hamilton and Jaksche were left off the team because of "new circumstances and decisions made public in the last few days," the team said.

"The decision aims to relieve the pressure that has built up over the last few days around the Giro and the team itself, following recent events and the position taken by some other teams," Tinkoff said.

Hamilton's and Jaksche's names turned up on a list of cyclists who allegedly had contact with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who is accused of running a blood-doping clinic in Madrid and is at the center of the Spanish case.

Last year's Giro champion, Ivan Basso, and fellow Italian rider Michele Scarponi withdrew from the race last week. Both have admitted involvement in the Spanish scandal but deny doping. On Tuesday, Basso said he had confessed to "attempted doping" only.

Spanish riders Costantino Zaballa and Ruben Plaza, who have also been linked to Fuentes, were not included in Caisse d'Epargne's team for the Giro, despite appearing on a preliminary list of racers.

Giro president Angelo Zomegnan does not want riders implicated in the case to compete in Italy's top cycling event and has asked the sport's governing body to provide a list of suspects ahead of Saturday's start.

Zomegnan twice wrote to International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid, asking for the names of riders considered "undesirable by UCI at the Giro, in connection with any list linked to Operation Puerto," Gazzetta dello Sport reported today.

"The institution has to provide the means ... (of determining) who cannot be considered admissible at the Giro," Zomegnan said.