Don Marco Pozza. Patron saint of fallen Italian cycling stars.

//Don Marco Pozza. Patron saint of fallen Italian cycling stars.

Don Marco Pozza. Patron saint of fallen Italian cycling stars.

Pozza. First Di Luca, now Pozzatto.

Forgive me father for I am a media hungry priest.

As God is my witness Don Marco Pozza must be a busy man. His latest venture is setting up disgraced Italian cyclist Filippo Pozzato with volunteer work in Kenya. Pozzato said he had to get out of Italy because he was so angry he was kicked off the Olympic team thanks to his relationship with banned dope doctor Michele Ferrari.

There’s no exact word on what volunteer work Don Marco Pozza found for his disciple. Is he building schools, curing yellow fever or malaria, teaching little Kenyan boys and girls how to roll pasta dough? He had time to do some altitude training but what about improving water sanitation?

Hard to say what Master P was up to but Pozza made sure it scored high on the public relations meter — as in “Look, here is my poor Filippo, my wayward sheep, working among the poor and starving in Africa and you wish to punish him simply for stopping by Dr. Ferrari’s house for an aperitif and training plans?”

A flock of wayward cyclists.

If your memory still works, you’ll recall that Don Marco Pozza is the same priest who supposedly convinced doper Danilo di Luca to come to church and confess in front of 500 school children. Many of the kids wept openly as they listened to Di Luca’s tale of woe and even some of the media choked up. Nice work by Pozza. Later the priest acted as Di Luca’s advisor when he signed his contract with Katusha.

Perhaps in his own disastrous time at Katusha, Filippo had the opportunity to met Pozza, the patron saint of fallen cyclists. The roving priest seems to have an ability to stage a spectacle designed to accelerate forgiveness of doping sins and transgressions.

We’ll admit it’s just our cynical take here at Twisted Spoke, but both Di Luca and Pozzato have used the same absolution strategy. Perhaps in Italy they don’t have PR people but instead rely on priests to fulfill the role, giving confessions an extra measure of believability and contrition. In Italy, the cross works wonders.

We don’t speak or read Italian but just watching the video interviews of the 32 year old Don Marco Pozza, he looks pretty slick, high energy and media savvy. In fact, he could pass for Di Luca’s brother — same sexy hair, identical grin. He’s one of those types with a long list of claimed talents — writer, journalist, priest, entrepreneur and events planner. He can save your soul on Sunday and plead your case with the Italian Olympic Committee on Monday.

We’ll see how Pozzato’s Ferrari story — and his Kenyan philanthropy — go down with the Italian Olympic Committee’s anti-doping tribunal on September 11. Perhaps when his personal priest explains how Pozzato taught the Kenyan children to read, they will skip the one year suspension. At least that’s what Master P is praying for.

By |2019-02-03T16:07:16-08:00August 9th, 2012|Uncategorized|6 Comments

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6 Comments

  1. Keith Dickinson August 9, 2012 at 6:17 pm - Reply

    Say 40 Hail Mary’s and call me in the morning!

  2. Ed Hollingsworth August 10, 2012 at 12:15 pm - Reply

    I love how often I am unsure whether what you write is truth or fiction or somewhere in between. Sometimes it’s pure madness but then in the world of pro cycling…

    • walshworld August 10, 2012 at 1:04 pm - Reply

      That’s the trick with Twisted Spoke. Ed — it might be true, it could be true or should or in a better, more honest and funny world be true. Keep reading and spread the TS gospel. Matt

  3. […] the comedy of his tearful confession to a church full of school children, done at the suggestion of his celebrity priest Don Marco Pozza. That was good stuff and Riccardo Ricco would have picked up a few drama pointers from watching Di […]

  4. […] made his bid for glory with roughly ten kilometers to go. His career is winding down but he and his TV priest must have decided the stage from Poliscastro to Serra San Bruno was a good one to play […]

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