Italian cycling president doesn’t want his country’s teams at the 2024 Giro Next Gen

24 of the 31 riders who held onto cars and motos were from Italy

Matt Hansen June 16, 2023

The Italian cycling federation has spoken out about the scandal on Wednesday at the Giro Next Gen, saying how disappointed he is with some of the teams from Italy. On Thursday, a total of 31 riders had been chucked out of the race for holding onto team cars and motorcycles up the infamous Stelvio climb. All of the offenders were caught on camera by Italian website Tuttobiciweb. That prompted the organizers to promptly disqualify both the cyclists, and four of the team car drivers.

Of the 31 riders that cheated, 24 were Italian.

Disappointed with the scene on the Stelvio at the Giro Next Gen

“What we saw was really offensive to those who correctly interpret this sport,” Cordiano Dagnoni, president of the Federazione Ciclistica Italiana (FIC) said. “They are images that really hurt.”

24 coureurs ont été disqualifiés lors de la 4e étape du #GiroNextGen (pour les Espoirs), qui se terminait au Stelvio. Ils ont été aperçus en train de s'accrocher à des motos ou aux voitures des directeurs sportifs (4 sont exclus).
? @tuttobiciweb_it pic.twitter.com/KMQveROaZX

— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) June 15, 2023

Dagnoni said he couldn’t believe that the adults in the room, so to speak, would help the u-23 riders cheat.
“It’s right to apply the rules and I’m above all disappointed by the behaviour of the sporting directors in the team cars because they should be the first to teach the youngsters how to respect the rules,” he added.

More punishment could await

The riders could still face further discipline from the UCI, in addition to the fines and disqualification they received.

“I asked the race organizers, RCS Sport to invite at least half Italian teams,” Dagnoni said. “At this point, having seen the behaviour of our teams and of our cyclists, I no longer feel like recommending they be invited in the future. I will leave RCS Sport free to invite teams at their discretion.”

The Giro Next Gen concludes on Sunday in Trieste. Johannes Staune-Mittet from the Jumbo-Visma development team currently wears pink.