Luca Paolini’s destructive regimen of sleeping pills, cocaine and…coffee?

Terminated Katusha rider Luca Paolini, who took his biggest one-day triumph at 2015’s Gent-Wevelgem, recently confessed to using cocaine at a pre-Tour de France training camp, a drug which he tested positive for on July 10 before getting tossed out of the Tour after Stage 7. But the whole story, the one that both Paolini and Katusha team doctor Massimo Besnati attested to in recent Gazzetta dello Sport interviews, is an odd one of a professional athlete juggling different drugs in an attempt to function.

Paolini admitted to having an addiction to sleeping pills, specifically Minias with the active ingredient lormetazepam. The 38-year-old Italian told the Gazzetta, “I cannot forgive myself. I am a husband, father, and a prominent sportsman, I had to be an example, I betrayed a generation that believed in me. This is what hurts me.” Besnati confessed that he knew about Paolini’s addiction but wouldn’t prescribe the rider the pills which Paolini increased as his addiction deepened.

The cocaine was apparently used to combat the grogginess of the sleeping pills. But according to Besnati, Paolini also poured a lot of coffee into himself into the mornings–five or six cups, or 180-250 mg of caffeine. The more Minias Paolini took, the more coffee he guzzled to fight the pills’ effects.

Besnati describes lormetazepam as being the most addictive of the benzodiazepine sleeping drugs. Benzodiazepine is a class of psychoactive drug that can alter brain function. Paolini spent time in a clinic to recover from his addiction, which he claims started in 2004.

Paolini’s case is headed to the UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal to determine whether or not he will be suspended. If not, Paolini still has a chance of racing for Katusha in 2016.