UAE Team L’Imad says it was unaware of freelance staff member Danilo Napolitano’s doping links, after the retired sprinter was handed a 20-year suspension this week for possessing and administering performance enhancing drugs to one of Italy’s leading junior teams. The Italian sprinter’s best results came during his three seasons at Lampre, the squad that would later morph into UAE Team Emirates, from 2006 to 2008. road.cc understands that Napolitano began working at UAE Team L’Imad’s service course late last year in a freelance, self-employed role. However, since road.cc contacted UAE Team L’Imad about Napolitano’s role in the team, the 45-year-old has removed all reference to the squads from his social media page. There is no indication of any wrongdoing on UAE Team L’Imad’s part.