Fourth Edition News for May 18, 2002

Edited by Jeff Jones and Tim Maloney

Mapei press conference

The Mapei-Quick Step team held a press conference at 10:15 this morning in their hotel to discuss the Garzelli affair, which has rocked the Giro and the Mapei team with the news that Garzelli tested non-negative to probenecid, a drug used for gout treatment that also can be used as a masking agent against anabolic steroids, although not with great effect any more. The substance made its way onto the banned list in 1988 when Spaniard Pedro Delgado tested positive for it in the Tour de France. It was not illegal at the time, so he was allowed to finish and win the Tour. Two weeks later, it was on the UCI banned list.

During the press conference, Alvaro Crespi called for a "maximum degree of transparency in this situation", pointing out that probenecid has not been commercially available in Italy, Switzerland, or Belgium for years.

Both Mapei boss Dr Aldo Sassi and team manager Alvaro Crespi said that "If the rider says he hasn't taken this substance, we want to believe him." They have also asked the UCI to test all their riders for traces of the substance, in case it was a 'spiked drink' scenario.

Sassi also talked about an unusual phone call he had on May 13 from a member of the Italian fiscal police in Padua. The policeman was looking for confirmation that two riders from Mapei (Garzelli and Bettini) were positive. Crespi thought that was very strange because the riders were tested only 4 hours earlier.

Giro d'Italia race director Carmine Castellano was cautious when asked about a plot against the Mapei riders. "Plots? I cannot comment on that without knowing the results of the tests."

"Mapei could have chosen the road of not saying anything before the counter analysis. Instead, they chose the road of clarity that I share."

Castellano said that if the counter evaluation is positive then Garzelli would be immediately disqualified according to the rules. It is expected that this will be known by today or tomorrow.

(The term "non-negative" is a UCI definition. A "positive" is determined only when both A and B samples are positive. Until then it's "non-negative". Ed)

Garzelli interviewed

RAI TV's Alessandra Di Stefano spoke with Garzelli after the press conference. "Well I hope people maintain their trust in me," said a visibly chastened Garzelli. "I'm convinced that at the end of this the truth will come out. I wouldn't want to ruin my career over something like this. I'm hopeful that everything will work out or else I'll be looking for another job."

Later at the sign on in Cuneo, where it was raining and there was a notably tense atmosphere, Garzelli also said that this product probenecid has not been commercially available for years [it's actually a treatment for gout]. "It's not clear as to how it was even used. I have no idea how this happened," he said.

Garzelli did not want to start the race today but the team asked him to. The reason that he's allowed to ride is that the Giro rules are slightly different to the UCI rules in that a non-negative rider may stay in the race until his counter analysis confirms the result.

Francesco Casagrande commented that "It's raining today. That's the climate in the race. I don't want to talk about the Garzelli issue."