THE ROT IN ITALIAN CYCLING

An unedifying discussion of an unsavoury business perhaps reached its low point shortly after lunchtime on 10 November, when Bardiani’s long-time manager Bruno Reverberi barked at the president of an Italian Olympic Committee tribunal, “NippoFantini have Japanese blokes much worse than ours!”

Like his Androni Giocattoli and Willier-Southeast counterparts, Gianni Savio and Angelo Citracca, Reverberi was in the dock for allegedly making certain riders pay to race in his team. Common sense and the UCI rules of course state that it should be the other way around: the riders ought to be the ones getting paid. An investigation by the Corriere della Sera newspaper had, though, appeared to confirm age-old rumours that teams recruit riders not on the basis of ability but whether they can bring in sponsors.

At the end of the hearing, the Italian Olympic Committee found Savio, Citracca and Reverberi guilty as charged and recommended bans ranging from one to two years.

But a few hours later, the Italian Cycling Federation had reviewed the evidence and decided all parties would be acquitted.

It doesn’t end there, though. The UCI have requested the case notes and may yet take action. More broadly, Reverberi’s remarks typify the dereliction of responsibility that has prevailed for years and brought Italian cycling to its knees.

Next year Italy will have no team in the WorldTour. If its stakeholders are looking for a clue as to why that is then it must start, as we've said before, with the men in the mirror.