There are skinny cats on the run – runners. And a few ghost cats that are great managers. Like the Swiss Mauro Gianetti, from Ticino, 57 years old, 62 kilos – the same weight as when he was a professional runner -, former winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Amstel Gold Race. A fabulous double, in 1995, at a time when EPO was flowing freely in the carburetors of the peloton …
For some of today’s cyclists – especially French – he plays the perfect role of scapegoat. Because Mauro Gianetti chairs the company, based in Milan, Italy, which houses the UAE-Emirates team: that of the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, a young leader called into question by his performances since his coronation of 2020 in the penultimate stage of the Grande Boucle – a coronation that had already left banned. And, in truth, it is he, Gianetti, the only real boss of the team.
Would the career of Ticino speak for him? Vice-world champion in 1996 at home in Lugano, he was hired in 1997 by the Française des Jeux. As a runner, he takes on a new role: that of… model for the younger generation. It brings major innovations – it will notably replace cheese sandwiches with vitamin preparations.
In May 1998, he suffered terrible discomfort on the Tour de Romandie. Three days of coma followed by a week of intensive care. Doctors suspect absorption of perfluorocarbons (PFCs), a type of substance used in hospitals on an experimental basis, which produces the same effects as EPO. He will deny it, claiming a “Hypoglycemia coupled with gastroenteritis”. To a follower doubtful as to the explanation, he will answer: “Do you believe in God? Now, I saw God that day. “
The “Cobra” and the Tour de France 2008
After having seen God, therefore, here he is from 2004 to 2008 at the helm of the Saunier-Duval team, which, during the 2007 Giro, raises questions as his riders fly over the event. Sponsored by a boiler manufacturer – this cannot be invented – the Spanish team is taken to the 2008 Tour de France by Riccardo Ricco in particular, a fabulous Italian climber known as the “Cobra”. But now the said “Cobra” has just been bitten by the French Anti-Doping Agency, after a positive control for EPO.
The team in the yellow chick jerseys leaves the Tour, ashamed, under the jeers. Asked about this, Mauro Gianetti, who is the sports manager, plays the tragedy: ” I am speechless ! I had some doubts at the start of the season. Noises, you know what they are, eh? I ask him if he is as clean as he says he is; he tells me : “I swear on my mother’s head that I’m not taking anything!” ” The “Cobra”, repeated offenders and suspended for life, will be reconverted as an ice cream seller.
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