Menchov banned over doping violations - UCI

GERARDMER France (Reuters) - Retired former Giro d'Italia winner Denis Menchov has been handed a two-year ban dating back to 2013 after irregularities were found in the Russian's biological passport, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said.

"The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) confirms that it has imposed a two-year ban on Russian rider Denis Menchov as a result of anti-doping rule violations based on his Athlete Biological Passport," the UCI said in a statement overnight.

"The rider is declared ineligible until 9 April 2015 and is disqualified from the Tour de France 2009, 2010 and 2012, competitions during which abnormalities were clearly identified." Menchov, who won the Giro in 2009 and the Vuelta (Tour of Spain) twice, was second overall in the 2010 Tour de France. The 36-year-old, who retired last year citing knee problems, retained his Giro and Vuelta titles but has been stripped of all his Tour results.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by John O'Brien)