Vincenzo Nibali is reportedly threatening to sue the producers of a TV show after it was alleged that he missed a blood test after winning the 2015 Italian national road race championship – the claim made by the rider who finished second, and who is serving an eight-year ban after testing positive for EPO in the same race.
In a report on Italia 1 programme Le Iene (The Hyenas) on Sunday evening runner-up Francesco Reda, who was riding for Team Idea 2010 ISD, claimed blood tests were not carried out on himself, defending champion Nibali, and three other riders immediately after the race which finished at Superga, Turin, because the necessary equipment was missing.
“The doctor said, ‘there’s a big problem, we don’t have the kit for doing the blood tests’,” Reda told the programme. He claimed that Dr Roberto Bima, the anti-doping representative of national governing body for cycling, the FCI, responded with the words, “For me, the test is null and void.”
The missing equipment was flown in a couple of hours after the race finished with Reda among riders to be tested – he would prove positive for EPO and be handed an eight-year ban as a result.
But he claimed Nibali had not undergone a blood test, saying that at the initial control, when the testing kit was found to be missing: “He went in for five minutes and came out with a white envelope. But he was there for five minutes, you understand what that means?”
Dr Bima’s notes are reported to have recorded that the testing kit arrived in Turin at 1926 hours, after which Reda and another rider were tested, but also make reference to Nibali and two other cyclists having already completed testing.
The implication from Reda is, how could Nibali have completed an anti-doping control and its accompanying paperwork in just five minutes – especially if the equipment necessary to carry out a blood test wasn’t there?
After the programme was transmitted on Sunday evening, Nibali tweeted pictures of what appear to be documents establishing that he had indeed been tested in accordance with anti-doping regulations.
The reigning Giro d’Italia champion wrote: “My tests were in order, the problem lies with those who have defamed me,” with hashtags that translate as “goodnight” and “peaceful dreams.”
I miei controlli sono regolari i problemi sono per i diffamatori ! #Buonanotte#sonnitranquillipic.twitter.com/0O9fJfqSgb
— Vincenzo Nibali (@vincenzonibali) October 16, 2016
The following day, Nibali’s lawyer, Fausto Malucchi, was rather more forthright, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“He called me at midnight,” said Malucchi. “He was furious. He’s uncompromising when his name is linked to the word ‘doping'.
“The report was scandalous,” he went on, saying it had no foundation and was based on nothing more than “bar-room chat.”
He added: “Vincenzo undertook that test straight after the podium, fully in accordance with the rules, and transparently. If other people have a problem with that, it’s not our problem.”
Nibali and his lawyers are already said to be taking legal action against the same programme after a separate report earlier this month that repeated claims by ex-professional cyclist Danilo Di Luca, banned for life in 2013 for a third anti-doping rule violation, that it was impossible to finish in the top 10 of the Giro d’Italia without doping.
A separate legal action had already been instituted on behalf of Nibali against Di Luca for that allegation, and his lawyer added: “We are drawing up a complaint to the broadcasting authorities and are considering filing a civil complaint against Le Iene and Mediaset,” the media company founded by Sivio Berlusconi that owns Italia 1.
“To see Italy’s greatest cyclist, who has always been a symbol of clean sport, being treated like this hurts,” added Malucchi.
The claim against Nibali, who was reigning Tour de France champion when he took that 2015 national road title, comes as the other two men to have won the yellow jersey in the past five years, Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, are under scrutiny due to their use of medicines under Therapeutic Use Exemptions.
In Wiggins’ case, attention has also been focused on the delivery of a mysterious package to Team Sky at the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné, which is now the subject of a UK Anti-Doping investigation.
Nibali, who leaves Astana at the end of the year to join the new Bahrain Merida team, has hinted he will skip next year’s Tour de France and will instead look to defend his Giro d’Italia title in the 100th edition of the race, which is said to be paying a visit to the Sicilian’s home city, Messina.