Massimo Giunti suspended for doping. Nobody shocked except team manager.

//Massimo Giunti suspended for doping. Nobody shocked except team manager.

Massimo Giunti suspended for doping. Nobody shocked except team manager.

Savio with Scarponi. Dirty and dirtier.

A non-shocker.

Androni Giocattoli rider Massimo Giunti is provisionally suspended by the UCI after testing positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test. Ladies and gents, let’s cue the fake outrage.

“It’s a bitter blow and I’m shocked but it’s strange too,” said team manager Gianni Savio.” Shocked and strange are two amusing and ironic words, coming from Mr. Savio. Riders on his teams have a long history of doping violations and suspensions.

Last year, it was Davide Rebellin who was nailed for using the blood booster CERA EPO. Before that it was Michele Scarponi, who confessed to doping in connection with the Operacion Puerto case.

Also on the bad-boy list at Savio’s Androni Giocattoli squad is Francesco de Bonis, who tested positive for EPO in the first stage of the 2009 Giro d’Italia.

Then let’s not forget another Savio rider, Giuseppe Muraglia, who returned to racing this year following a two-year suspension for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG).

And we’d be remiss if we left out sprinter Danilo Hondo, popped for doping in 2005, but who rode for Savio on the Diquigiovanni-Androni team, an earlier version of his latest squad.

So shocked and surprised would not be the words Twisted Spoke would have selected. Cynical, dishonest and preposterous might be a better fit. Gianni Savio is from the old school, wink-wink days of Italian cycling.

The man just can’t believe his riders keep doing that thing with the pointy needles and illegal juices. By golly, he just has no clue what’s going on and he’s simply an honest man victimized by his own naive trust.

After all, the Androni Giocattoli team has a stringent, no tolerance policy against doping. According to Savio, they devote half a day to a course on anti-doping. That’s right, a full half day at training camp before it’s off to the races. Somewhere Garmin’s Jonathan Vaughters is shaking his head in disbelief.

“We keep telling the riders, especially the ones who rode in the old days, that the world of cycling has totally changed,’ said Savio. Not totally, not by a long shot. As long as there are ethically ambiguous team managers like Savio, the old system lives on.

No surprise or shock there.

By |2019-02-03T16:29:50-08:00March 10th, 2010|Doping|8 Comments

About the Author:

8 Comments

  1. Ron Callahan March 11, 2010 at 2:59 am - Reply

    An ongoing theme in Savio's articles in the back of Pro Cycling has been. "I receive an early morning phone call. X is positive. I cry. It is tragic. We move on. Did you see my new suit?"

    • walshworld March 11, 2010 at 4:48 am - Reply

      You nailed it. Love your summation. I can just picture the whole monologue. Thanks for writing in with the funny brilliance.

  2. Ron Callahan March 12, 2010 at 12:17 pm - Reply

    Thanks. Love your site, BTW.

    You should cruise over and check out Bike World News.

  3. […] team under the direction of Gianni Savio, currently the boss at Androni Giocattoli, is seriously open to questioning. Most likely by the police, UCI and […]

  4. gjb April 17, 2011 at 2:20 pm - Reply

    wow what a load of shit. except for giunti none of those guys were caught on doping while riding for savio.

  5. […] did cast a degree of suspicion to events. Savio is also a guy with an up and down career including allegations of doping within his squads — riders like Davide Rebellin and Michele Scarponi and Francesco De […]

  6. Fritz November 2, 2012 at 12:19 am - Reply

    AS GJB already said, none of this riders was in the Team of Gianni Savio when they got caught. What are you trying to prove? Or do you just want to make Gianni Savio look bad?

    • walshworld November 2, 2012 at 12:56 pm - Reply

      Fritz, I am a bad, bad man but maybe not as bad as Armstrong. I would still submit that he tends to fill his teams with dopers and unrepentant ones at that. His big signing this year: Franco Pellizotti. Matt

Leave A Comment