The dark days of doping return to Italian cycling

It was just one week ago when Vicenzo Nibali rode into Brescia to claim his maiden Giro d’Italia title and his second grand tour victory.  Nibali’s masterful and controlled race held many similarities to Wiggins’ victory in the 2012 Tour de France and his lead was rarely threatened once he claimed the ‘maglia rosa’.   His victory was so emphatic that it was held up as a symbol of hope for the renaissance of Italian cycling in the media.

Italian cycling was clearly on a high and the positive drug test of Danilo Di Luca was not going to rein down on those celebrations.

  

That was until Mauro Santambrigio became the second Italian cyclist to test positive to a banned substance.  He also became the second rider from Italian pro-continental team, Vini Fantini Selle-Italia, to test positive during the race. 

Santambrigio certainly rose to prominence in 2013.  He went from a domestique in BMC to a Giro stage winner.  But there were rumours in the peloton that all was not right from the very first stage with Santambrigio.  

It took 28 days from those rumours to become a reality.  

Santambrigio claiming victory.  But is was to soon.

Vini Fantini is lucky that they are not a World Tour team or they may be facing a large financial penalty for this second indiscretion.  Ag2R-La Mondiale is forfeiting its participation in the Critérium du Dauphiné after two of its riders failed drug tests in a 12 month period.  It was a self-imposed ban to escape a financial penalty levied under the rules of the Movement for Credible Cycling. 

Ultimately, Santambrigio could be responsible for sending the small Italian team to the dustbin of history.  Sponsors will now be thinking twice about remaining with Vini Fantini. 

Vini Fantini sports director Luca Scinto admitted it to Tuttobiciweb.it "Everything's finished, the whole project is finished".

“What do you want me to tell you, I'm distraught, I'm ruined. I defended him like no other rider before because from (the Giro start in) Naples there were awful rumours about him going around the peloton.”

Santambrigio now joins a long list of discredited Italian cyclists – Riccardo Ricco, Ivan Basso, Emmanule Selle, Davide Rebellion, Danilo Di Luca and Marco Pantani to name a few. 

So where does this leave Italian cycling now.  It is clear that the drug tainted era has not passed. 

The Italian authorities are not treating this doping problem seriously enough.  Bans are too lenient and do not provide a strong enough deterrent to riders to bypass hard work in their effort to get to the top.  This can explains why the Anti-Doping Tribunal of the Italian Olympic Committee reduced Di Luca ban from 2 years to 9 months for cooperation.  

One aspect that needs to be addressed is why it took 28 days for Santambrigio’s test results to be made public.  He failed his drug test during the first stage in Napoli.  Test results must be processed more quickly so these disgraced riders do not influence the race outcome. 

Doping still remains the scourge of cycling, which was shown by the reaction of the riders in the peloton after the news of Santambrigio broke.  

It must be stamped out.  But this will occur when the Italian anti-doping authorities finally take a serious stance on these cases.  That means giving a lifetime ban to Di Luca and banning Santambrigio for an extended period.  

Anything less and the renaissance of Italian cycling will be very short lived.

A change of race strategy must be the focus of Orica GreenEdge

When Orica GreenEdge entered the UCI World Tour last year they did it with a bang and with immediate success.  But it was quickness of its first victory that took everyone by surprise.  

Unlike Team Sky, which did not get its UCI World Tour victory until February, Orica GreenEdge secured its first World Tour victory at the Tour Down Under when Simon Gerrans took out the general classification jersey.  Success on the European continent was also not very far as Gerrans backed up his early season success by winning one of cycling’s five monuments – the Milan-San Remo – in a sprint finish against Fabian Cancellera and Vincenzo Nibali.  This early season success at a number of World Tour events also translated into victory at their debut Grand Tour when Matt Goss won stage three at the 2012 Giro d’Italia.  While there were no podium finishes at the Tour de France, Orica GreenEdge was back in the Grand Tour winning circle when Simon Clarke won the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Espana and then went on to win the mountains classification.

Overall, 2012 was an extremely successful first year for Orica GreenEdge.  The team managed to finished 12^th on Cycling Quotient CQ Team Ranking with 32 victories and 6^th on the UCI World Tour Team ranking.  In comparison, Team Sky finished its debut season also with 32 victories, but in 13^th spot on Cycling Quotient CQ Team Ranking.  If Team Sky is seen as the professional benchmark for all World Tour teams, then based on 2012 form, the future looked very promising for Orica GreenEdge.  

Fast forward to June 2013, Orica GreenEdge racing strategy seems to be in disarray as the team shows signs of second year syndrome.  Things were not helped when earlier in the year the Team suspended Matt White after it was revealed that he has doped while at US Postal Team with Lance Armstrong. 

As at 1 June 2013, the team has slipped to 14^th on the UCI World Tour Team ranking, some 650 points behind Team Sky, and 13^th on Cycling Quotient 2013 CQ Team Ranking.  While the team had secured 17 victories to date, four of those victories were in National or Oceania championships.  The 2013 Giro d’Italia was a failure for Orica GreenEdge, which set their team up around Matt Goss, attempting to replicate the previous year’s performance.  Goss withdrew on Stage 16 and the team left the Giro empty handed.

It is difficult to see where a grand tour victory will come from after analysing their Giro performance. In fact, if both Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan head to the Tour de France, it is hard to see Goss, or any other Orica GreenEdge rider beating them.  Furthermore, Orica GreenEdge is unlikely going to match the likes of Team Sky is a team time trial or individual time trial.  Therefore, the rest of the 2013 season is not looking too bright for Australia’s first UCI World Tour team. 

I can understand why Orica GreenEdge focussed on stage wins in its debut season.  The team had to get immediate runs on the board to get exposure and secure a team sponsor, which it did when Orica, the Australian mining services and explosives company, came on board just before the Tour de France.  The new team also had to justify why it was given a World Tour licence at the expense of other established cycling teams. 

It was clear that 2012 success meant the team was going to follow a similar strategy in 2013– chase more stage wins rather than general classification jerseys.  The team brought in Michael Matthews from Rabobank to bolster its sprinting stocks.  A team that already had Goss, Howard, Alan Davis, Aidan Kruopis and Baden Cooke in their sprinting ranks.  

Team Sky objective was to deliver Britain’s first Tour de France winner.  It achieved that in three years.

With the lack of big wins in 2013 it is time for team management to re-assess their racing strategy. Orica GreenEdge should take a leaf out of Team Sky’s racing manual and develop a similar objective and shift its focus to securing general classification podium wins at one of the three grand tour events. 

But if Orica GreenEdge was serious about winning a grand tour it would have secured Richie Porte at all cost – the next likely Australian winner of a grand tour – rather let him re-sign for Team Sky in May.  Surely, it would not be too hard to convince Porte to switch teams given his limited chances at Team Sky because of the presence of Wiggins and Froome in the team. I am sure Porte’s manager would have held discussions with Orica GreenEdge.  Did Porte views his prospects were better staying at Team Sky?  He was likely concerned about the level of support that he would get from the team.  There are not many super domestiques in Orica which can drive the peloton like Team Sky. 

That leaves Orica GreenEdge to use its team resources to have a tilt at the general classification victory. It is often reported that Cameron Meyer is a future general classification winner.  It is time for the team to back Meyer and build a stage race around him, and not just around a sprinter like Goss or Howard. 

If Orica GreenEdge is going to compete against Astana, Team Sky, BMC or Movistar then it needs to develop a genuine general classification rider and build a squad around a rider to allow them to compete at the highest levels in a grand tour.  Orica GreenEgde is a long way from building the perfect grand tour team.

Fans are eager to see their heroes on the podium wearing the yellow jersey or the maglia rosa.  Not after one stage, but after 21 days of racing under the toughest conditions a grand tour can throw at them.

On the podium, but still not first

  

Unfortunately, this will not happen at Orica GreenEdge.  Not until the owner and team management shift their focus from stage wins to building a grand tour squad that can support a truly general classification contender.