Organisers for the Giro d’Italia have announced that Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara will join former seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong on the start line for the centenary 2009 edition.

It promises to be one of the strongest Giro line-ups in recent history with Italian former winners Ivan Basso — returning from a two-year doping suspension — Damiano Cunego and Danilo Di Luca as well as Spaniard Carlos Sastre, the current Tour de France champion, amongst the riders.

Only title-holder Alberto Contador, the 2007 Tour de France winner and also reigning Tour of Spain champion, amongst the sport’s biggest names will not be present, preferring to concentrate solely on regaining his Tour de France crown.

Cancellara, the Swiss Saxo Bank rider, is a reknown time-trialler and classic specialist who won the Milan-San Remo this year. Next year’s Tour of Italy runs from May 9-31.

International drug testers are keeping a watchful eye on Lance Armstrong during his probation period, according to the seven-times Tour de France winner.

Armstrong claims to have been drug tested 11 times in the past 18 weeks and two times in the past four days. The latest test was conducted by officials from the International Cycling Union on Thursday at his Texas home.

“UCI control. They flew a guy from Germany for it. That makes a ton of sense,” Armstrong wrote on Twitter, a social networking website.

Twitter allows users to send short messages which are then posted on subscribers’ cell phones and the Internet.

Armstrong even let his Twitter readers know that he was on his way to meet with the drug testers.

“I am back from the shop after riding four hours. I hear the drug testers are waiting at the house,” he wrote.

Armstrong, who plans to resume his cycling career next year, was placed under a six-month probation period by the United States Anti-doping Agency at the beginning of August.

Armstrong needs to pass USADA’s out-of-competition testing pool before his cycling comeback can become official.

News of his return has drawn mixed reviews in cycling circles.

Armstrong has been accused of doping practices on several occasions, most notably in an article in French sports newspaper L’Equipe in 2005, claiming six urine samples from his 1999 Tour victory contained the blood-boosting drug EPO.

The rider himself has always denied doping and the UCI cleared him in 2006.

Felipe Massa has slammed calls for Formula One teams to cut the wages of their drivers in a bid to help cut costs.

The Ferrari driver, who finished the 2008 drivers’ championships in second, just one point behind Britain’s Lewis Hamilton, is reported to earn £8 million, around a third of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen’s salary.

“I’m not inclined to it,” Massa said when asked about Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali’s proposal to reduce driver earnings.

“In a competitive sport like this, the driver plays a fundamental part and the cost of the drivers are small compared to the total budget of the teams.

“The more people work to reduce costs, the better it is going to be for everybody.”

Massa has also said he disagrees with the plan to introduce a standard engine, which FIA president Max Mosley wanted to see implemented by 2010 to drive down the running costs of teams estimated to be around £300 million mark.

“I do not find this idea interesting,” said Massa. “The fight to diminish costs is important but a standard engine gets away from what F1 is all about – and it cannot happen.

“A Ferrari running with another engine – that is not a Ferrari. It is the same for Mercedes, Toyota or Renault.”

Luiz Felipe Scolari has said he cannot understand the decision to send off Chelsea captain John Terry in the 0-0 Premier League draw with Everton.

Terry was shown red by Phil Dowd for a high tackle on Leon Osman in the stalemate and although the Blues managed to come away with a point, Scolari declined to talk to the press at the end of the game.

Scolari broke his silence on ChelseaTV a day later and insisted he was merely taking his time to get some perspective over the incident.

“If I go to say something [straight after the game] maybe I say something wrong and I need more time to look at everything.

“I have to look at the game again if something happened in the game. I need to be sure about this or that. I said no [to the press] at that time because maybe I’d have problems in the future – in that time I am not calm.

“If I go then I answer some questions and I’m angry.”

But despite taking time out to make sure he could view the incident dispassionately, the Brazilian still cannot comprehend the sending off.

“Maybe I look at the game and I change my mind, but I don’t change my mind about yesterday.

“I looked at the game again and I don’t change.

“It’s the same as I thought yesterday. For me it’s not normal. I don’t understand the decision very well.

“But he’s the referee. After [the red card] John he goes to his friend [Osman] to apologise, he goes off like normal. He’s a very good captain, he accepts the decision from the referee.”

There was good news for Scolari and his Chelsea side on the training pitch, though, with Ricardo Carvalho back in full training and close to a first-team return following a knee injury.

“It’s the first time Ricardo has trained with us normally and I think after seven days – 10 days maximum – he’ll start to play.”

Arsenal FC captain Cesc Fàbregas is out for “three to four months” after a scan on his injured right knee revealed a partial ligament rupture.

The Spain midfielder did not emerge for the second half for Arsenal’s 1-1 Sunday draw against Liverpool FC and manager Arsène Wenger suggested that Fàbregas was likely to have at least a short spell on the sidelines. But a scan on Monday has revealed a much longer absence for the 21-year-old and at the very least he will miss the UEFA Champions League first knockout round tie against AS Roma on 24 February and 11 March according to the diagnosis. Spain’s next FIFA World Cup Group 5 qualifiers are against Turkey on 28 March and 1 April.

“The news is not good because it is a partial rupture of the medial knee ligament which is taking three to four months injury time,” said Wenger. “We count four, we know he will be working very hard to come back earlier but I count four months. How much [we will miss him] is difficult to say, the only thing we can say for sure is that we will miss him of course. We have to find a way to compensate for the fact he will not be on the pitch, and give everybody a bit more. I am sure we can deal with it. When he comes back he can help us to get over the line in the final months.” Arsenal lie fifth in the English Premier League and visit Aston Villa FC on Friday before facing Portsmouth FC two days later.