“Interest in doping has lessened,” Italian Olympic committee (CONI)head Ettore Torri said at an anti-doping conference in Faenza. “Before there were few tests and the penalties were light. Now it’s not worth it any more.”
He claims, however, that while the situation among professional riders has improved monumentally the situation in amateur racing is getting worse. "The situation there is serious. I’ve met entire families who dope. From lawyers to manual labor workers, they do anything just to win a salami in ridiculous races.”
It's not only in amateur races. Several of the major granfondo events have been tainted by doping.
On the subject of doping, the "my steak was tainted" defense by Alberto Contador begins tomorrow before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland. The hearing will last until Thursday, a decision is not expected until next year. This for Contador's positive for Clenbuterol in the 2010 Tour de France. If the finding is in favor of the UCI, Contador could be stripped of his 2010 Tour de France and 2011 Giroi d'Italia victory (more backgound here).
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Love that Faggin photo! The salami looks pretty cute too...but the only doping to win one should be with vino rosso! Sadly, Faggin's bikes were destined to be a sales dud in the USA where our shop said, "nice looking bikes, but it would be hard to sell someone a bike that says faggin on it to our customers." even though the importer at the time was our friend "Chairman Bill" of Torelli Imports.
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