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Petacchi won’t talk about doping allegations, his lawyer calls accusations ‘too general’

By Agence France Presse • Published: Jul 28th 2010 12:12 PM EDT

Tour de France 2010, Stage 12: With Hushovd in the break, Petacchi loses the green jersey ... for now.

Petacchi got himself through the mountains and finished in Paris with the green jersey — and some doping allegations.

Tour de France green jersey Alessandro Petacchi will not be commenting on an investigation into alleged doping practices, his lawyer said Wednesday.

During the Tour earlier this month it was revealed that Petacchi had been summoned by the public prosecutor in Padova to answer questions regarding the use of banned substances.

The Italian was allowed to continue competing in the Tour, though, and subsequently went on to win the sprinter’s competition.

However his lawyer Virginio Angelini said the Lampre rider has agreed not to say anything.

“We had a meeting yesterday, he wanted to talk but I decided on a strategy of not responding,” said Angelini, who dismissed the accusations against his client as “too general.”

The Italian ANSA news agency, quoting informed sources, previously alleged that two banned substances were found at the 36-year-old’s home — PFC (Perfluorocarbon), an alternative to the banned blood booster EPO, and human serum albumin.

The affair is said to center on two former teammates as well as two other amateur riders.

Petacchi, one of the most successful sprinters of his generation, was suspended for a year after the 2007 Tour of Italy for testing positive for excessive levels of the asthma drug salbutamol.

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  • casprd
    Prosecuter: Mr Pettachi, did you ever use banned Performance Enhancing Doping products?
    Pettachi: I'm sorry your question is too general.

    this is kind of like Clinton debating the definition of "is".
  • chapped
    Let's wait for the investigation.
  • acergracer
    Petacchi will probably claim Basso's dog put it there.
  • js73091
    Actually, Petacchi's evil twin, Birillo Petacchi, was using the dope for his dog, the same dog that wired $6000 to the Fuentes clinic and donated $100,000 to a testing lab. That dog claims the drugs were from candies his aunt brought from him from Colombia. Birillo has never tested positive, but did consumer four shots of Jack Daniels and two beers before the discovery. Give to the Petacchi Fairness defense fund or soon-to-be created disease charity today.
  • If they just DQ Petacchi post race, then Cavendish gets the green, but if they methodically eliminate him from each race and re-distribute the points then Hushovd gets the green.
  • AdroitRider
    Does anyone recall the reaction of Phil and Paul after Alejet's stage wins? It reminded me of their response to Rasmussen riding away from Contador and their response to Schumacher winning the TT in 2008.

  • professorvelo
    exactly right. I'm afraid I immediately get suspicious when I hear about remarkable comeback performances that just happen... "there's the Alejet of old"... really? does he have a hyperbaric time machine?
  • hou1mtg
    He Lemond! Let it go...
  • bigjakeduke
    maybe he had some Jack Daniels with his team mates or at least with his chimera.
  • rtc2000
    Wait hang on, where is Lemond? Oh thats right he cherry picks certain situations. Most likely will not hear a peep out of Lemond about this one.
  • ichoci
    You know what..I have always liked Lance, greatly admired his skills and accomplishments!.. but you Lance propagandists, who are now seeing fit to try to discredit LeMond because of his stance on doping and his support of Landis' claims, are going way overboard..What a transparent load of BS..You're comments about Greg LeMond amount to little more than a way to try to sway opinion in light of the Armstrong investigation by tarnishing LeMond..cut it out!
  • ichoci
    should read "your" comments
  • Greg Lemond an american, knowing about American doping affairs when he was the premiere american cyclist of his generation, and being involved in American Cycling programs, and having had interactions with all american stars... versus him having any idea about what goes on in Italy, use your brain man
  • davejesq
    Greg LeMond raced in Europe, on European teams, filled with European riders, including Italians. LeMond will say nothing about this unless Petacchi's alleged doping is linked to Lance Armstrong.
  • casprd
    The difference being that Lemond had an association with Lance Armstrong as well as with Dr Ferrari (or however you spell it). To my knowledge he had no association with Pettachi so why should he post anything in response to this.
  • davejesq
    Given the previous disqualifications from the Tour of riders under investigation for suspicion of doping (Ullrich, Basso, etc), one is left to wonder why Alejet was not also booted upon the disclosure that he was under investigation. Is it possible that the organizers thought that excluding Petacchi would mean that they would have to exclude Lance due to the Landis investigation?
  • Yes yes... I know it was in Italy. I'm just pointing out that silence does not make a person guilty. Most of us here wouldn't talk without legal counsel if the police were accusing us of wrongdoing. Doing so would be foolish and naive. Petacchi is simply being cautious as any intelligent person would be.
  • Dopepedaler
    And now the "official" TDF results after last sunday's "official" TDF results.
  • Maybe Petacchi also paid that little girl to run in front of Thor earlier in the year. I hope he at least bought her dinner.
  • bandopers4life
    Denial has worked very well for all sorts of athletes who didn't dope, like Marion Jones, Mark McGwire, Ben Johnson, Floyd Landis etc.
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