Unnamed Italian pro claims widespread doping
An Italian professional cyclist, speaking anonymously on the television program "Striscia la Notizia", has created a stir by indulging viewers in his confessions that doping is rampant in the professional peloton and that he himself relied on performance enhancing drugs. Said only to be an active racer and "very well known", the cyclist offered the statement that "90% of the riders are doping".
"If I hadn't been doping I could never have finished races or kept pace," he said. At the same time, the interviewee insisted that doping was causing serious health problems in the peloton.
"I've found a lot of young riders who are reacting badly to the drugs," he said. "They have trouble sleeping, suffer from respiratory problems, heart problems, and that sort of thing. That also concerns riders who every morning receive injections of EPO or growth hormone in their abdomens. With any other treatment they wouldn't have been able to ride the next day."
The damaging statements didn't stop there. Shifting his accusations to race organisers, the cyclist alluded to lax controls at major races and a certain complicity with cyclists known to be doping.
"One time I was called for testing and I went to the medical control," he explained. "But they said to me, 'go ahead, the doping didn't happen.' And this was a very important international race."
"Everyone is afraid to speak out because we're in a world that's hard to escape," he said, explaining the decision to conceal his identity. "If you talk, if people know that it's you, you're excluded from the system. The majority of the riders in the peloton didn't finish school and wouldn't know what to do besides ride a bicycle."
Cipollini named
Following the Striscia la Notizia program, a satirical news show, the Italian website dagostia.com reported that the masked rider was in fact Mario Cipollini. That same day, Cipollini promptly denied having said anything to Striscia la Notizia.
"Regarding the news about me making these declarations to Striscia la notizia, I want to say- and this has already been explained by the press office of Striscia la Notizia- that these comments [from the website Dagostia] have no basis in fact," Cipollini said, quoted on Datasport.
"I'm really surprised, and very bitter, to have to come out and explain these absurd lies that are being thrown around," he continued. "I spoke with my lawyer and I am going to sue whoever is responsible for these accusations."
Subsequent to the first rider, another cyclist appeared on Channel 5, speaking to Striscia la notizia about his early years in the pro ranks. "I started to race when I was eight years old," the younger rider explained. "The first year I was a professional I had to really face what was going in the sport with the usage of GH [growth hormone], EPO, cortisone, caffeine and steroids. I decided not to take any drugs, and I finally I had to quit the sport.
"Personally I did two years without getting any results as a pro, so in the third year without any results there was nothing left to do," he added. "The logic in this situation is that the team had to see the investment they made in me as a rider pay off somehow. I had to deal with doping after I saw the team doctor. I had normal haematocrit values in my blood; actually, too low with respect to my teammates. The team doctor gave me a list of medicine I had to take, and when I came out of that visit I ripped the list up and decided to retire from cycling."
By not revealing the sources of these accusations, the at times sensationalist Italian media may be repeating their actions of last spring when hidden camera footage was broadcast of riders supposedly taking drugs. Some viewers of this week's program may wonder whether the rider making the allegations is Striscia la Notizia's Gabbibo and not former world champion Mario Cipollini.