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CYCLING

Italian police arrest six in amateur cycling doping probe

The investigation into the death of cyclist Linas Rumsas, son of former professional rider Raimondas Rumsas, led on Thursday to sweeping arrests at his former Altopack amateur team, Italian prosecutors said.

Italian police arrest six in amateur cycling doping probe
Cyclists riding through Tuscany in the 2017 Giro d'Italia. Photo: Luk Benies/AFP

Police raided several premises in the Tuscan town of Lucca early on Thursday and detained team owner Luca Franceschi, former sports director Elso Frediani, pharmacist Andrea Bianchi and ex-trainer Michele Viola for allegedly supplying young riders with doping products.

Altopack was the team associated with the Velo Club Coppi Lunata with which 21-year-old Linas Rumsas competed before his death following a heart attack on May 2nd 2017.

“Since the young man, in the weeks leading up to his death, had obtained excellent placings in particularly tough races, far superior to those obtained in the past, the suspicion immediately arose that the sudden death was due to the use or abuse of unauthorized drugs,” police told a press conference.

Suspicions were reinforced because his father, Lithuanian rider Raimondas Rumsas, along with his mother Edita, had in the past been investigated for trafficking doping substances.

“The investigation has revealed the existence of a real partnership aimed at facilitating doping practices,” police said.

Franceschi “recruited the most promising cyclists, motivated them to take drugs and procured doping substances for them, including EPO [erythropoietin] in microdoses”.

Franceschi's parents are also alleged to have allowed riders inject themselves at their home where doping paraphernalia including syringes, needles and powerful painkillers were found. Twenty-five vials of EPO were also discovered in the fridge at Viola's house.

All were placed under house arrest pending the conclusion of the investigation with a further 17 people being probed.

Police also searched the home of the father of the young deceased cyclist and his older brother, Raimondas Rumsas Junior, also a promising cyclist, who was suspended for four years last month for doping.

Rumsas's parents were at the centre of a doping investigation in 2003 when French customs officers seized a large quantity of doping products in Edita Rumsas's car on the day her husband finished third in the Tour de France.

Rumsas Senior tested positive for EPO at the 2003 Giro d'Italia and was suspended for one year.

Altopack is one of Italy's biggest amateur cycling teams and young athletes are said to have been encouraged to take banned products including EPO, growth hormone and opiate-based painkillers.

Searches were also carried out in other Tuscan towns, and the northern city of Bergamo.

Update, February 14th: The name of the cycling team has been adjusted to reflect Eppela did not have a relationship to the cycling team, other than a sponsorship arrangement which ended in October 2017.

CYCLING

Swiss rider dies after fall into ravine on Tour of Switzerland

Swiss rider Gino Maeder has died from the injuries he sustained when he plunged into a ravine during a stage of the Tour of Switzerland, his team Bahrain-Victorious said on Friday.

Swiss rider dies after fall into ravine on Tour of Switzerland

Maeder, 26, fell during a high-speed descent on the fifth stage between Fiesch and La Punt on Thursday, after an exhausting day marked by three ascents over 2,000 metres altitude.

He had been found “lifeless in the water” of a ravine below the road, “immediately resuscitated then transported to the hospital in Chur by air”, organisers said.

But the next day, “Gino lost his battle to recover from the serious injuries he sustained,” Bahrain-Victorious said in a statement.

“It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we must announce the passing of Gino Mäder,” his team wrote in a statement.

“On Friday June 16th, following a very serious fall during the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse, Gino lost his fight to recover from the serious injuries he had suffered. Our entire team is devastated by this tragic accident, and our thoughts and prayers are with Gino’s family and loved ones at this incredibly difficult time.”

“Despite the best efforts of the phenomenal staff at Chur hospital, Gino couldn’t make it through this, his final and biggest challenge, and at 11:30am we said goodbye to one of the shining lights of our team,” the team said in a statement.

Maeder had enjoyed a strong start to the season, finishing fifth in the Paris-Nice race.

American rider Magnus Sheffield also fell on the same descent from Albula, during the most difficult stage of the race with multiple climbs. The Ineos-Grenadiers rider was hospitalised with “bruises and concussion,” organisers said.

On Thursday, world champion Remco Evenepoel criticised the decision to compete on such a dangerous road.

“While a summit finish would have been perfectly possible, it wasn’t a good decision to let us finish down this dangerous descent,” the Belgian wrote on Twitter.

“As riders, we should also think about the risks we take going down a mountain.”

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