Drink derailed Grabovskyy

Dimitro Grabovskyy, the U23 world champion in 2005, doesn’t have a contract this year and he knows why.

The Ukraine rider admitted that he had a drinking problem after turning pro with powerhouse QuickStep in 2007 and couldn’t live up to expectations.

“After some disappointments with Quick Step, I took the wrong road,” Grabovskyy told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I was bored and after training, I would go to parties and drink. Twice I nearly died from drinking so much. I drank vodka, but never took drugs.”

Grabovskyy bolted into the rainbow jersey on the roads of Madrid and many were convinced he had a bright professional future.

After promising amateur results, he struggled to find his place with Quick Step, posting two winless seasons. In 2009, he joined ISD, where he raced the Giro d’Italia, but often for his own chances rather than riding for the team.

After three winless seasons among the elite ranks, Grabovskyy finds himself without a contract.

At 24, he promises that his drinking problems are behind him.

“This period is over and I’ve rehabilitated myself,” he said. “All I have now in my refrigerator is water.”

FILED UNDER: News / Road TAGS: Dimitro Grabovskyy / Quick Step

Patrick O'Grady

Patrick O’Grady joined VeloNews as its cartoonist in 1989 and a succession of editors has failed to dislodge him. He was a newspaperman from 1977 to 1991, but it felt too much like work, plus he never got any free bike parts. So he quit for the carefree life of a free-lance rumormonger, and now you have to deal with him, as do we. Sorry ’bout that. O’Grady lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his wife, Shannon, and their cats, Turkish and Miss Mia Sopaipilla. He has more bikes than chins, but only just barely.

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