Liquigas threatens legal action against Ettore Torri
CEO of Liquigas, Paolo Zani, has announced that the company, title sponsor to a major Italian cycling team, is planning to sue Ettore Torri, the head prosecutor of the Italian anti-doping office. Torri recently announced that doping
is extensively practised throughout professional cycling, suggesting that legalising might be the only way to stop the constant stream of scandals.
"Liquigas feels it has the right to defend itself. With what he said, Torri has caused us huge damage to our image," said Zani. "Our lawyers are studying the matter and in the next few days we'll begin legal action against Torri: we want five million Euro
as compensation for the damage to our image."
Torri did not name any names, but Zani specifically said that the successes of Ivan Basso and Vincenzo Nibali, who each won a Grand Tour this year for team Liquigas, have been damaged by the claim that most cyclists are dopers. In
2007, Torri played a major role in getting Basso to confess his participation in the Operacion Puerto scandal.
Liquigas rider Franco Pellizotti is currently under Torri’s scrutiny since his biological passport was considered suspicious before the start of the Giro this year. Pallizotti and his team have claimed that the blood value fluctuations recorded by the passport
are natural physiological changes. The cyclist will appear before a disciplinary committee in Rome on Thursday and may be dealt a two-year ban from competition.
Riders have themselves takes exception to Torri’s statements and had planned to strike at Saturday’s Giro di Lombardia, delaying the start of the race by ten minutes. Philippe Gilbert, who went on the win the race, was the first to announce the planned strike,
but it quickly became clear that the riders were divided about the plan.
“I personally don't know about any delayed start,” said Marco Pinotti. “And I personally don't agree with it.”
The strike was cancelled, but many riders instead wore stickers on their helmets during the race which read ‘I race with my heart’ while bottles were distributed to spectators at the start and finish of the race, which included a leaflet which read ‘If we
know that there is doping in cycling, perhaps it is because cycling is fighting it seriously’ followed by a listing of anti-doping statistics.
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