Riders plan to strike at Giro di Lombardia
Philippe Gilbert, a favourite for the Giro di Lombardia on Saturday, October 16, has confirmed that the riders of the event have organised a delay at the starting line in protest to recent comments by Ettore Torri, the head anti-doping
prosecutor for the Italian Olympic Committee.
"We must show the world that the statements of Torri are unfounded," said Gilbert. "I’ve been called by Roman Kreuziger. We will probably leave Milano ten minutes late, or so-it's a good idea for us to act, because we cannot accept
this situation."
The planned 10-minute delay is a way for the riders to express their displeasure with Torri’s hyperbolic statement that all cyclists dope, released in response to the recent wave of doping scandals involving Alberto Contador and several
others.
"I'm not the only one saying it,” said Torri. "Lately, all of the cyclists I've interrogated have said that everyone dopes... The longer I’m involved in this the more I marvel at how widespread doping is."
The Italian is right about not being the only one saying it. Cyclists Floyd Landis and Bernhard Kohl, who have both been banned for doping, support his view. Kohl’s former manager Stefan Matschiner, recently charged with a suspended
prison sentence, claims to have evidence to support Torri’s argument.
Several former cycling doctors and anti-doping specialists also support the position that the vast majority of doping in cycling goes undetected.
"That kind of stuff is hard for riders to hear," said Jonathan Vaughters, owner of team Garmin.
However, the detractors, many of them riders and cycling officials, have accurately pointed out that those who support the prosecutors statements have all either been known to participate in doping or, like Torri himself, are only
involved in the sport to fight doping and therefore only know that side of it.
"If you interrogate rider connected with doping, what did you expect them to say?" said Italian cyclist Marco Pinotti. "They prefer to hide behind the belief 'everyone is doping' instead admitting they are losers, wankers [sic],
cheaters, liars."
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