More riders linked to Armstrong doctor

Italian doping investigation links more
cyclists, including Olympic champion
Alexandre Vinokourov, to Michele
Ferrari.
At least 15 more cyclists are being
linked to Lance Armstrong's banned
Italian sport doctor in an intricate
scheme of money laundering, tax
evasion and widespread doping.
Former Giro d'Italia winners Michele
Scarponi and Denis Menchov, and this
year's Olympic champion Alexandre
Vinokourov, are under investigation
for doping under the supervision of
Dr. Michele Ferrari, the Gazzetta dello
Sport reported on Friday.
Citing documents from an inquiry led
by Padua prosecutor Benedetto
Roberti, the Gazzetta detailed how
Ferrari allegedly masterminded a $40
million operation whereby riders and
teams avoided taxes by recycling
money via Gibraltar, Monte Carlo,
Switzerland and South America.
Ferrari and the cyclists deny
wrongdoing.
Roberti has been leading a sweeping
investigation of Ferrari for several
years, parts of which were used in the
US Anti-Doping Agency report
detailing why it banned Armstrong for
life and ordered him to be stripped of
all seven of his Tour de France titles.
Armstrong has acknowledged that
Ferrari was his trainer until 2004, and
Ferrari's name is mentioned
throughout the USADA report. In July,
USADA banned Ferrari for life.on
Roberti told The Associated Press last
week that his inquiry was nearly
finished.
Under investigation
Doping is a crime in Italy, and Ferrari
was already cleared on appeal in 2006
of criminal charges of distributing
banned products to athletes. But he
remains barred for life by the Italian
Cycling Federation under a 2002
ruling.
Ferrari is now reportedly under
investigation again in Italy for criminal
association, trafficking and
administering doping substances, tax
evasion and money laundering.
Investigators placed hidden
microphones in the camper van that
Ferrari used to meet with cyclists in
remote areas of Italy and in
Switzerland, the Gazzetta said.
The newspaper printed a phone-tap
conversation between Scarponi and
Ferrari inside the van in September
2010 during which the rider said he
could win the following year's Giro
and the physician replied that if he
used a blood transfusion he had a
chance.
Scarponi finished second in the 2011
Giro but then was bumped up to
champion when Alberto Contador
was stripped of the title for doping at
the 2010 Tour de France. Vincenzo
Nibali finished behind Scarponi.
In 2007, Scarponi was banned for 18
months for involvement in the
Spanish doping scandal Operation
Puerto.
Police also tapped a September 2010
phone call between Menchov and
agent Raimondo Scimone during
which the Russian rider tells the agent
that he wants "all the cyclists working
with him followed by Ferrari,''
according to the Gazzetta.
Scimone wrote in a statement to the
paper that he was never involved in
doping or wrongdoing.
Menchov raced with the Rabobank
team from 2005-2010 and won the
Giro in 2009. He also won the Spanish
Vuelta in 2005 and 2007.
Fallout continues
Rabobank announced on Friday that it
is ending its long sponsorship of
professional cycling , saying "the trust
in the cycling world has gone''
following the publication of the US
Anti-Doping Agency's report on
Armstrong.
Vinokourov is also reportedly under
investigation by Roberti. He won the
men's road race at the London
Olympics, having served a two-year
ban after testing positive for blood
doping during the 2007 Tour de
France. The Kazakh rider retired at the
end of this season.
Others reportedly under investigation
are Armstrong's former teammates
Yaroslav Popovych and Volodymyr
Bileka; Russian riders Alexandr
Kolobnev, Vladimir Karpets, Vladimir
Gusev, Mikhail Ignatiev; Czech rider
Roman Kreuziger; and Italians Filippo
Pozzato, Lorenzo Bertagnolli, Giovanni
Visconti and Franco Pellizzotti.
Bertagnolli's detailed confession to
Roberti was published in the USADA
report to reveal Ferrari's system.
Also, riders and teams took advantage
of their image rights contracts to limit
taxes, the Gazzetta reported, with
Scimone helping them work with a
company called T&F Sport
Management in Monte Carlo to
register the deals there and avoid tax.
The contracts were not registered with
the UCI and the riders paid only six
percent tax and then transferred the
cash to Switzerland to use it in part for
paying Ferrari, the Gazzetta said.