Cadel Evans’ wife Chiara Passerini has warned against assuming that all the big pro riders use banned substances, saying that her husband and many others have never broken rules and that it is unfair to judge them because some others have cheated.
Writing on her personal blog site, she expressed her frustration with Italian sports journalist Christiano Gatti, who penned a piece featured on the website TuttoBiciWeb.
Outlining what she found offensive about the article, she said that he wrote how “‘the wife, partner, sister or mother, in other words, the queen of the house, always turns out to be the trustful guardian of secrets and potions. It’s not a case when people say a great champion always needs a great woman next to him. And I understand that. It’s not easy to look after those fridges.’”
He later refers to Riccardo Ricco in the piece. Last month, Ricco was rushed to hospital and spent several days in intensive care. It was reported during that time that he had admitted transfusing blood which may not have been properly stored, and suffered a reaction to that. He is under investigation, and is facing a lifetime ban due to his earlier positive test in 2008.
Ricco’s partner Vania Rossi herself tested positive last year at the Italian cyclo-cross championships. She was later cleared due to a B sample that fell slightly short of confirming her guilt.
While the Ricco household has legitimate questions over it, Chiara Passerini doesn’t like when generalised suspicions are voiced about all pro riders.
“In the last few years, we’ve become used to read rubbish and inaccurate information everywhere, but this one in particular offends me personally,” she continued.
“What will my friends and relatives think when reading this thing? That I, too, am the Queen of the Fridge, because they all know I help Cadel as much as I can? And what about the motor pacing, the driving him around, the cooking, the washing, the bureaucratic stuff, the support and the PATIENCE? Mr.Gatti shouldn’t generalize too much and should remember that, fortunately, there are many cyclists who have never ever had anything to do with doping. Why always forgetting about these ones?”
Saying that it is also wrong to presume that all journalists only talk about doping, she said that she knows some who write about cycling in a positive way, recognising and highlighting its beauty. She wants people to avoid the same generalisations when talking about pro riders.
Passerini ends by giving an example of how she feels the writer has been wrong on other instances. “Mr. Gatti is the same journalist who, after Milan-Sanremo, wrote an article with this title: “Goss, Mr. Nobody who mocked the biggest cyclists”. If Goss is Mr. Nobody, I’m the Pope,” she concluded.
Evans has never been linked to any doping cases, and enjoys a good reputation.