Jonathan Vaughters has apologized to his riders and the staff of EF Education-Easy Post, Cyclingnews explains. The apology comes after a case that has caused quite a stir in recent days: Italian Andrea Piccolo was arrested in possession of growth hormones while traveling from Colombia to the United States.
“You’re going to have to deal with it.”
“I’m the one who gave him a chance, and I have to apologize to all of you because you’re going to be asked questions about him and you’re going to have to deal with that,” the American team boss said before the start of the Tour de France. Andrea Piccolo has since been fired by EF.
The EF team explained that Piccolo was first suspended internally and not paid in March for taking “a sleeping pill that was not approved by the team, although legal.”
The team, which says it informed the UCI of its rider’s behavior, had already wanted to terminate the 23-year-old Italian’s contract but was unable to do so “for legal reasons.” At the start of his first Giro this year, Piccolo did not finish the race. Last year, he wore the red jersey as leader of the Tour of Spain.
