OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

The #""! Giro winner tested positive twice but has dug deep and put the past behind him

Winning the Giro d’Italia, as an Italian rider, is the pinnacle of your career. It’s the thing you dreamt of as a child, very few ever manage to achieve it and I’m very thankful to be one of those riders. But my two positive tests have been very difficult to deal with, especially people dearest to me turning their backs. Yes, I made mistakes and I don’t condone anyone taking drugs to enhance performance, but it is very difficult to understand unless you were part of that era of professional cycling.

The most painful thing for me is being given a lifetime ban from the sport that has been my world since I was a very young boy, to not be able to remedy my mistakes over time

“SOME OLD FRIENDS ABANDON YOU AND PRETEND LIKE YOU NEVER EXISTED, WHICH IS PAINFUL TO DEAL WITH”

and give back my experiences, good and bad, to help make the sport better and stronger in the future. It weighs very heavily on me.

Some old friends abandon you and pretend like you never existed, which is painful to deal with, but you realise the people that you’re close to now are not there because of your achievements, but the man you are.

One of those, Chris Putnam, owns the cycling brand Velobici, and we’ve worked together to create the DL Killer collection. At the time of your lowest point it can feel like nothing else matters, but over time life moves on.