Former world champion attacks UAE boss Mauro Gianetti: ‘All team managers and journalists know the truth’

Mauro Gianetti recently spoke about his past and cycling’s doping era. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG boss saw his former Saunier Duval team collapse following a major scandal, but now describes himself as a “victim” of what happened. Those comments have infuriated another former professional. Jérôme Chiotti rode for Festina-Lotus, the team that folded after becoming embroiled in one of the biggest doping scandals in cycling history in 1998.

Chiotti originally came from mountain biking and won the world title in 1996. He subsequently combined that discipline with road racing, but in 2000, at the age of 28, he admitted using performance-enhancing drugs to win the rainbow jersey. Chiotti personally relinquished the title, which was subsequently awarded to runner-up Thomas Frischknecht.

Gianetti enjoyed an extremely successful Tour de France with Saunier Duval in 2008. Riccardo Riccò won two stages, while Leonardo Piepoli also claimed a stage after finishing alongside Juan José Cobo. Everything appeared to be going brilliantly until Riccò tested positive. The team withdrew from the race and Riccò was suspended, while Piepoli was also dismissed following further concerns about his conduct.

Gianetti’s assertion that he was a victim of that affair has left Chiotti furious. “Did you see the phrase ‘I am a victim’ in his interview with L’Équipe?” he began in a post on his Facebook page. The Frenchman believes nothing has changed and says he has serious doubts about UAE Team Emirates-XRG. “All team managers — and I mean all of them — and all journalists know the truth. And yet nothing will come out because ‘there is no evidence’.”

Chiotti launched a scathing attack on Gianetti. The Swiss former rider was himself admitted to hospital in suspicious circumstances amid reports that he had used the experimental substance PFC, although he has always denied using performance-enhancing drugs. “The man who almost died, and almost caused the death of a teammate at Française des Jeux, is capable of claiming that he never used EPO and did not know his riders — whom he had signed himself — were doping in that highly controversial team.”

The claims Chiotti says he is hearing make Gianetti a deeply suspicious figure within the peloton, in his view. “When you can say that to a journalist with a straight face, you are capable of anything within your own team — the best team in the world. You are more than capable of ignoring everything that was happening behind the scenes.”

UAE Team Emirates-XRG have become one of the most dominant teams in cycling history, with Tadej Pogačar delivering five Tour de France victories under Gianetti’s leadership. The squad also came close to reaching 100 victories last season. Chiotti remains deeply sceptical. “If I already had 99 per cent doubts about UAE’s medical programme, those doubts have risen to 100 per cent after his worthless interview and his damned double-talk.”

Even casual followers of cycling know the sport has a damaged reputation. There have been relatively few major doping cases in recent years, but UAE’s level of dominance continues to prompt questions and suspicions among some observers. Chiotti does not believe the situation will improve. “Cycling will not recover, especially with someone like that at the head of the best team in the world.”

“But don’t worry, nobody at France Télévisions has anything to say about it today,” the former world champion continued. “The show must go on. I hope that one day OCLAESP [the French agency responsible for investigating environmental and public-health offences] finds a back door. I am not religious, but I am going to Lourdes to light a candle,” Chiotti concluded sarcastically.