GENEVA, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Spanish cyclist Ricardo Serrano has been handed a two-year ban for evidence of blood doping, the ruling body UCI said on Thursday.

The International Cycling Union said in a statement Thursday that the Spanish federation took the action by its request against Serrano due to evidence gathered from the biological passport program.

The biological passport registers and analyses cyclists' blood parameters continually and is the latest weapon in the International Cycling Union's fight against drug cheats.

The blood profile program showed abnormalities and the presence of CERA, a form of the banned drug EPO, in Serrano's bloodstream from samples taken in May and June 2009.

Serrano is the second cyclist banned over the biological passport. Italy's Francesco De Bonis was the first rider to be sanctioned in a biological passport case when he received a two-year ban in May.

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