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Moscon’s controversial 2017 continues with accusations of causing FDJ rider’s crash

Out for season, Seb Reichenbach files complaint with Italian police and UCI

October 4, 2017
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Sky’s Italian rider Gianni Moscon has seen some laudable successes in 2017: winning the national time trial championship, placing fifth in Paris-Roubaix and being one of Chris Froome’s key helpers in the Vuelta a España. But poor behaviour has marred his season. First, Moscon used racist insults against FDJ’s Kevin Reza in the Tour de Romandie, something which earned him a six-week suspension from his team. Then he was disqualified from the world championships road race for getting a tow from a car. Now Moscon has been accused of causing Reza’s Swiss teammate Seb Reichenbach to crash during Tuesday’s Tre Valli Varesine.

The crash caused a fractured elbow that will end Reichenbach’s season. He claims that Moscon deliberately made him crash, telling French publication Le Nouveslliste that he has decided to file complaints about the incident with both the Italian police and the UCI, “I will file a complaint against Gianni Moscon because he voluntarily threw me ashore…it was voluntary, and several riders have seen the scene and are ready to testify in my favor.”


Deliberately dangerous riding is something Moscon denies. The 23-year-old told La Gazzetta dello Sport, “It’s not true. It’s nothing to do with me. We were on a section of rough road and Reichenbach’s hands slipped from his handlebars. I’ve never spoken to him in my life.”
https://twitter.com/GianniMoscon/status/915288435816005632
The disturbing part of the story is that Reichenbach seems to think that the crash was in retaliation for his part in drawing attention to the racial abused of Reza, who confronted the Sky man after the stage, without actually using Moscon’s name. “It’s a question of settling scores after the business with the Tweet during the Tour de Romandie,” Reichenbach told Le Nouveslliste. “That’s what sealed his internal suspension. But I hadn’t even mentioned his name.”


Moscon’s contract with Sky runs out at the end of 2017.