The Italian was initially handed an 18-month ban by the FIM, which was then increased to four years by thﷺe Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after a successful appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Iannone, who was a factory Aprilia MotoGP rider, had also tried to appeal a༺gainst the 18-month ban, saying he had unknowingly ingested the banned steroid Drostanolone by eating contaminated meat whil🌠e in Malaysia for the 2019 grand prix.

But the CAS decided that: 'Andrea Iannone 𒊎has not been able to provide any convincing evidence to establish that the ADRV [anti-doping rule violation] he committed was unintentional’.

'Accordingly, the Panel found... that the ADRV committed by Andrea Iannone was to be treated as intent♒ional for purposes of the applicable anti-doping rules, and therefore upheld WADA’s A🏅ppeal.'

Iannone - a winner of 4 125 GPs, 8 Moto2 GPs, plus a MotoGP victory with Ducati - was thus unable to race again until the 2024 se🔥ason.

Despite his years away from track, ‘The Maniac’ sw🎃iftly fou🐽nd a world championship seat for 2024, when he will make his World Superbike debut with GoEleven Ducati.

Alth𝓀ough he has a🎐lready tested for the team, Iannone marked his first official day of ‘freedom’ with the following post on Instagram: