The tale had ended in tragedy with Pantani, the Pirate who flew over the mountains. It ended up in farce with Armstrong, the superman who won cancer and then seven Tours. Now Mario Cipollini's, the unbeatable Lion King in the sprint, also ends up in a forbidden blood bag. Three great myths, a sort of idols for people who need to dream, especially if they are passionate about a popular and tiring sport like cycling. Fallen heroes. Even the fable of Contador who still races and will perhaps win the hundredth Tour is faltering, a little emaciated, but in the light of what emerged from the Usada investigation into Johan Bruyneel – sporting director of Armstrong and of Contador himself at the times of Astana, inflexible Epo pourer – the defense of the Iberian champion has the flavor of pochade when he blames a steak and consequently accuses the calf of having taken clenbuterol, the prohibited substance that condemned the Matador to the known disqualification.
Cipollini did not react to the "bomb" published by the Gazzetta dello Sport which comes from Madrid, where the trial is taking place against Eufemiano Fuentes, the doctor-sorcerer of the Operacion Puerto who already in 2006 left Basso, Ullrich and Scarponi on the eve of the Tour Cipollini waits to read the deeds that nail him down. Professional from 1989 to 2008, in his career he won a lot of races: one World Championship, one Milan – Sanremo, three Ghent – Wevelgem, forty-two stages at the Giro d'Italia, twelve at the Tour de France and three at the Vuelta a España. He won the points classification at the Giro d'Italia three times.
Will he end up like Armstrong with all these victories revoked? Anything can happen in a cycling that is overwhelmed by an avalanche of mud that is now submerging everyone and whose stopping point is not visible. The Tour register of the last three decades is an emptied crater, with classifications without more winners or with winners who have not been deleted who admit like Bjarne Riis in 1996 that they made full use of Epo during the French race. Cycling, more than any other sport, feels the guilt of doping and wants to atone to self-harm. A rotten apple blender in which no one is saved anymore. In fact, the Armstrong case – subjected to over 500 checks – demonstrates that anti-doping did not work or – more seriously – was managed by those responsible with at least not unambiguous inflexibility. Armstrong fired into the pile: doping has always existed in the various eras of cycling, from that of Binda to that of Coppi, from that of Merckx to that of Moser and Hinault.
Without the help of the Epo it is impossible to win seven Tours in a row but today – Armstrong's words – it would be impossible to do so without being discovered due to the introduction of the biological passport which records the blood values of each athlete. A hope that has prompted the institutions of cycling, faced with the disaster, to solicit the convening of a sort of states general of the discipline from which to finally be able to start from scratch. In the meantime, however, the mud is getting bigger – and one wonders who is after Cipollini – while the new cycling season is upon us. Indeed it has already begun in the most disparate places in the world such as Qatar where Mark Cavendish has established himself in a big way. But step by step with globalization now travels suspicion and doubt in a cycle that by dint of pursuing the epic enterprise has irretrievably ended up in the mortal tentacles of the Epo and its bogus heroes.
