No doping at Giro d’Italia this year
June 3, 2008Except for the CSF Navigare Guy
who got caught the month before
Ariel Maximiliano Richeze in better times
Now that the Giro has finished for another year, with the victory of Alberto Contador, the race’s management has been celebrating what they believe to have been a massive success. There were a series of spectacular mountain stages, high ratings on tv, and above all no doping cases. Well, except for Ariel Maximiliano Richeze, the Argentinian sprinter for super team CSF-Navigare who failed a test three weeks before the start of the Giro.
Although the squad had to start a man short, CSF-Navigare went on to massive success all the same. The clean team pulled off four big stage wins, including three of the mountain stages with Emanuele Sella. There is no doubt that Richeze’s erstwhile teammates were the surprise of the year. All of the drug-free riders for CSF-Navigare pulled off some spectacular feats in the mountains and were involved in most of the big breakaways. Fantastic.
The star system
The Italian press, always on the lookout for startling feats of heroism and courage, jumped on the Sella bandwagon en masse. Since the decline and subsequent death of Marco Pantani, an icon still mourned with numerous banners along the roads of the Giro, the local cycling journalists have been keen to grasp on to a new star to keep the tifosi interested in the sport. I’ve been told that the circulation of the specialist cycling magazines collapsed after the doubts began about Pantani.
The problem, of course, has been that every hero they nominate as his replacement has ended up in the mud too. Over the past few years, as I’ve had the chance to follow the races in Italy through my work with a major cycling tour agency, almost every rider praised to the hilt by the commentators on RAI tv has ended up in trouble.
Rai hype about Emanuele Sella as seen by his new fans:
