Cycling executives arrested in Lucca over death of Rumsas

The Rumsas case
The investigation that led to the anti-doping operation in Lucca began with the sudden death of Linas Rumsas, the promising 21-year-old cyclist, on 2 May last year. Linas Rumsas was the son of Raimondas, a former Lithuanian cyclist of international renown. Further details will be provided at a press conference scheduled for later this morning. In the weeks leading up to his death, Linas Rumsas had taken part in a series of highly demanding races, achieving results that significantly exceeded expectations. This was another factor that convinced investigators his death was related to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Linas’s father had also been suspended in the past for doping, and his mother investigated for trafficking in prohibited drugs.

EPO and opiates
According to initial reports, it was the team’s president who encouraged athletes to use banned substances, including micro-doses of EPO, growth hormones and opiate-based painkillers. Officers from the flying squad and the central operations unit have carried out searches all over Tuscany, including at the premises of a law firm in Lucca. Performance-enhancing drugs are thought to have been administered to very young riders, allegedly at the Capannori apartment of Franceschi’s parents, precisely in order to dodge surprise spot checks at the team’s official training camps. In all, five people have been arrested and 17 are under investigation.

The case of Rumsas’s brother
Linas Rumsas’s brother, called Raimondas like his father, has himself been disqualified for four years for doping offences. The ban came into effect on 28 January, after he tested positive for the use of a growth hormone following a race in Capannori.

Anti-doping reports for 2016 and 2015
The Lucca investigation provides further confirmation of the widespread use of prohibited drugs in the world of sport, and cycling in particular. The report submitted to Parliament last August showed that 22 of the 806 athletes subjected to checks in 2016 tested positive (2.7% of the total). However, this percentage rises to above 6% if we only consider members of cycling teams. According to the 2015 report by WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency), Italy has the second highest number of cases of athletes banned for doping in the world (127), behind Russia (176) and ahead of India (117).

English translation by Simon Tanner
www.simontanner.com

Article in Italian