He led the Androni Giocattoli team in a Grand Tour race for the first time at the 2010 Giro d'Italia, where he finished fourth overall and won a stage for the second successive year.

Contador was stripped of those results in February 2012 after a positive test for clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour de France, and Scarponi was promoted to both victories; he also won the points classification in the Giro d'Italia.

In 1997, at age seventeen, Scarponi became junior national road race champion with a winning move on the climb to Castello di Caneva [it] in the northern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

[4] In April 2001, riding for the Site–Frezza amateur team, Scarponi finished second to Yaroslav Popovych in the one-day Giro del Belvedere.

[6] Scarponi finished eighth in the under-23 time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Lisbon that October, one minute and 32.4 seconds behind winner Danny Pate of the United States.

[24] Forgoing the Giro d'Italia, Scarponi won the fourth stage of the Peace Race in Germany after joining a late-stage move and a sprint finish in Grünhain-Beierfeld.

[28] Scarponi moved to the Spanish Liberty Seguros–Würth team for 2005,[8] a quieter season than his previous ones; he did not win any races, despite his ambitions for the Giro d'Italia.

Scarponi was again implicated in the Operación Puerto case, meeting with the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) in Rome on 1 May about his apparent involvement in the investigation.

[41] A week later, one day after compatriot Ivan Basso admitted his involvement in Operación Puerto as the rider code-named "Birillo",[42] Scarponi confirmed at another meeting with CONI that he was "Zapatero" and "Il Presidente".

[46] In March 2008, after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), his ban was lengthened to 21 months; allowing for Scarponi's periods of inactivity, however, he was eligible to race again on 1 August.

[51][52] Scarponi began his 2009 season with a fifth-place finish in the Vuelta a Andalucía, supporting Davide Rebellin's unsuccessful bid to win the race.

[57] Dropping his final breakaway companion Vasil Kiryienka about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) from the finish, he soloed to his first Grand Tour stage victory.

[60] He rode a series of one-day races during the second half of the season, with top-ten finishes in the Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia (ninth),[61] the Coppa Ugo Agostoni (sixth),[62] and the Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato (seventh).

[65] Scarponi began 2010 with top-ten finishes in the Giro di Sardegna (seventh),[67] and the Classica Sarda (ninth) in February,[68] before attempting to retain his Tirreno−Adriatico title.

Basso was attempting to take the overall lead; he and Nibali did most of the work during the dangerous descent and subsequent uphill ride to Aprica, leaving Scarponi fresh enough to out-sprint them.

[88][89] He made his début with the team in the Giro di Sardegna, where he won the final stage after a late attack; he finished fourth overall, missing the podium by eleven seconds.

[100] In the Giro, after a "satisfying" team time trial by Lampre–ISD on day one,[101] Scarponi almost won the seventh stage; he finished second to Bart De Clercq by a tyre length after trying to chase him down in the final kilometre.

[107] Before the race's second rest day, there was a triumvirate of mountaintop finishes in the Dolomites (stages thirteen to fifteen): at the Grossglockner in Austria, Monte Zoncolan and Gardeccia [it].

[108] Scarponi was an early attacker on the first climb,[109] but could not make up much ground; Contador finished second to José Rujano in the stage, increasing his lead by almost two minutes.

[120] In February 2012, Contador was stripped of his victories in the Volta a Catalunya and the Giro d'Italia[121] after a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following his positive test for clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour de France.

[129] Promoted to the 2011 victory earlier in the year, Scarponi was poised to defend his Giro d'Italia title in May[130] and led the Lampre–ISD team with Damiano Cunego a main domestique.

[145] After the Giro d'Italia, Scarponi signed a one-year extension to his contract – until the end of the 2013 season[146] – before deciding to focus on the Tour de France:[147] a race he had not ridden since 2004.

[153] He was suspended by his team in November 2012 after he admitted performing tests with Michele Ferrari, a doctor linked to a number of doping cases.

He remained there, finishing fourth in the stage; a 21-second gap to the peloton enabled him to move up two places into third overall, passing Nairo Quintana and Bradley Wiggins.

Astana won the race-opening time trial; Scarponi was primarily a domestique and finished fourteenth overall,[194] with Tanel Kangert winning the race's final two stages.

[202] Scarponi out-sprinted the group for his first individual victory since his 2013 Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi success,[203][204] and finished fourth overall.

[216] Scarponi's funeral, officiated by Cardinal Edoardo Menichelli on 25 April at Filottrano's football stadium, was attended by an estimated 5,000 mourners.

[218] Race officials dedicated stage sixteen's Mortirolo Pass climb – which played a part in his 2010 final-stage victory – to Scarponi, giving the lead rider double points in the mountains classification.

[219] Peter Sagan dedicated his victory in the September World Road Race Championships to Scarponi, and it was announced in January 2018 that the March Tirreno–Adriatico would include a stage finish in his home town of Filottrano.

[220] Scarponi was commemorated during the 2022 Giro d'Italia, when a mural of his pet parrot (who normally accompanied him on his training rides) was unveiled at the site of his death.