Rémy Di Gregorio has been given a four-year ban ©Getty Images

French cyclist Rémy Di Gregorio has been banned for four years after the conclusion of a doping case which began in 2018.

Di Gregorio was provisionally suspended after testing positive for darbepoetin, a form of the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO).

The substance is often known under the brand name Aranesp.

The sample was collected after a stage of Paris-Nice on March 8 in 2018.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has added Di Gregorio to the current list of sanctioned athletes following the conclusion of the case.

His ban will run until March 7 in 2022, with the sanction backdated until the date his provisional suspension from the sport began.

Di Gregorio, now 34, was arrested by French police at the 2012 Tour de France, leading to his then team Cofidis suspending and withdrawing him from the race.

Rémy Di Gregorio was suspended after a positive doping sample at the 2018 Paris-Nice ©Getty Images
Rémy Di Gregorio was suspended after a positive doping sample at the 2018 Paris-Nice ©Getty Images

He claimed he was innocent, saying police only found vitamins, and the rider was then partially cleared by the French Court of Appeal in 2013 and allowed to resume competing.

Di Gregorio successfully sued Cofidis for wrongful dismissal in the same year before joining Delko Marseille Provence KTM in 2014.

A Marseille court later ruled in 2018 that a Di Grégorio internet order included 100 butterfly needles and 80 syringes, plus a 500 milligram bottle of glucose.

It was determined that this could have "undermined the ethics of sport", with Di Grégorio given a one-year suspended prison sentence for having equipment that can be used for doping.