A urine sample collected from Santambrogio on May 4, 2013, while Santambrogio was taking part in this year's Giro d'Italia, has been analyzed by a WADA-accredited laboratory in Rome, which resulted in the adverse analytical finding.

Santambrogio is now provisionally suspended and has the right to demand that an analysis of a B-sample is carried out.

On May 24 it was announced that Santambrogio's Vini Fantini-Selle Italia teammate Danilo Di Luca had tested positive for EPO. The news resulted in team director Luca Scinto distancing himself from Di Luca and calling Di Luca "an idiot" and adding he never wanted to hire him, but did so because of pressure from team sponsors.

Santambrogio won stage 14 of this year's Giro d'Italia ahead of eventual overall Giro d'Italia winner Vincenzo Nibali and finished 9th in the Giro's overall general classification. He rode for BMC Racing Team in 2010, 2011, and 2012 and for Team Lampre from 2006-2009.

UCI President Pat McQuaid, who is up for reelection later this year, continuously claims the state of cycling has never been better despite the continued doping findings.