ROME — Domenico Quagliarello received a ban for life and Eddy Mazzoleni was banned two years by the Italian cycling federation for involvement in a doping scandal.

Mazzoleni, who finished third in last year's Giro d'Italia, has been linked to Carlo Santuccione, an Italian doctor who allegedly provided doping products to athletes. Santuccione is at the center of a four-year-old case named "Oil for Drugs."

The Italian cycling federation imposed the ban Monday on the recommendation of anti-doping prosecutors with the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). Mazzoleni, who has denied doping, can appeal the decision.

The federation said today that both riders were suspended for attempted use of either a prohibited substance or method. Quagliarello received the stiffer penalty on a request by CONI because he was banned for doping in 2002.

Mazzoleni quit the Astana team in July after it suspended him pending the outcome of the investigation.