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news
Gianni Moscon (piture - Team Sky).JPGComplaint filed with police and UCI against Team Sky's Gianni Moscon for allegedly causing crash during race
FDJ rider Sebastien Riechenbach has lodged formal complaints with Italian police and with world cycling’s governing body, the UCI, against Team Sky rider Gianni Moscon, whom he claims pushed him off his bike on purpose during yesterday’s Tre Valle Varesine race in Italy.
The Swiss rider, who had been scheduled to ride Il Lombardia on Sunday, sustained a broken elbow, with the injury bringing his season to a premature end.
Riechenbach, aged 28, believes Moscon was exacting revenge for a tweet he sent regarding an incident in this year’s Tour de Romandie that resulted in the Italian being handed a six-week suspension by his team for racial abuse.
Moscon, whom FDJ had accused of “dangerous behaviour” in a tweet following yesterday’s race, has denied he was responsible for the crash and insists that Reichenbach lost control of his bike when his hands slipped from the handlebars of his bike on a descent.
“I am lodging a complaint against Gianni Moscon because he pushed me to the ground on purpose,” Reichenbach told the Swiss newspaper, Le Nouvelliste.
“It was deliberate. Moreover, many riders saw the incident and are prepared to bear witness on my behalf.
“He deliberately threw himself against me. In a descent, the incident could have had even more serious consequences.”
He continued: “My team, FDJ, has encouraged me to make a complaint. It is supporting me.”
Reichenbach was in no doubt as to why he believes Moscon knocked him off his bike on purpose.
“It’s about a settling of scores following the business of the tweet during the Tour of Romandie,” he claimed.
“That’s what got him an internal suspension. But I didn’t even mention him by name,” added Reichenbach.
During that race in June this year, which he wasn’t riding, Reichenbach posted a comment on Twitter after video emerged of an altercation between his team mate Kevin Reza and Moscon, who later apologised for having racially abused the FDJ rider.
Choqué d'entendre encore des imbéciles utiliser des insultes racistes dans le peloton pro. Vous êtes une honte pour notre sport. #TDR2017
— Seb Reichenbach (@reichenbach_seb) April 28, 2017
In his tweet, Reichenbach said he was “shocked to hear again of imbeciles using racist insults in the peloton. You are a disgrace to our sport.”
The incident resulted in Moscon being suspended from competition by Team Sky for six weeks and he was warned that a similar incident in the future could result in his contract being terminated.
> Team Sky suspend Gianni Moscon for six weeks for racial abuse
Besides his elbow injury, which is due to be operated on tomorrow, Reichenbach was scheduled to undergo a scan today to check whether he has sustained micro-fractures to his hip.
Whatever the result of that, he said he would “remain immobile for several weeks which will put back my preparations for next season.”
The new controversy surrounding Moscon came less than a week and a half after he was disqualified from the men’s road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Bergen after video emerged of him holding on to his team car to get back to the main group after a crash.
> Italy coach Davide Cassani says he's to blame for Gianni Moscon World Championship tow (+ video)
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- ktache 50 min 9 sec ago
The small frame, the aggressive posture, lots of standover height.
- mctrials23 1 hour 45 min ago
As i've said before, the police should be sued for a lot of money when someone they have knowingly ignored has gone on to commit a serious crime....
- David9694 1 hour 53 min ago
'Bad parking' blocks firefighters multiple times on same emergency call-out...
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Cambridgeshire boy, 13, crashes Audi into garden wall after taking it from home...
- Adam Sutton 2 hours 43 min ago
Good stuff. Now do it on cycleway C9 through Hammersmith to Chiswick.
- mark1a 2 hours 52 min ago
It's technically allowed but it's not known as "London's Orbital Car Park" for nothing.
- Dogless 4 hours 26 sec ago
You're defending bombing hospitals and refugee camps and starving children.
- mattw 6 hours 40 min ago
Used car salesman is a complete attention-seeking plank....
- tubasti 6 hours 57 min ago
I don't know if they're any better, but they's certainly become more boring.
- FionaJJ 7 hours 23 min ago
At risk of being cynical, and stereotyping the police, it's so they don't have to leave the comfort of their panda cars and pursue on foot when...
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19 comments
If he dosen't get anywhere with the Police & the UCI he'g going to tell his MUM!!
Jesus just grow the hell up it bike racing not tidlywinks.
And I'm sure if you were (allegedly) assaulted in your place of work then you'd just let it slide and get on with it...
Course he would - it's dockside rentboying, not tiddlywinks!
actually if it was me id just take it in to my own hands and get even
if therese a ruling on this every crash in the sport will be ripped to bits teams will start claiming off each other and the whole sport will go to pot end of all their carers.
Playing judge and jury by Twitter isn't bright, both in the first instance and this. Surely influencing any investigations...
I call bullshit on this...
I don't know what went down, and maybe, just maybe Moscon is that buig a tool, but from everything I have experienced in racing says this wouldn't have happened.
You don't cause crashes... and certainly not on a descent, in a bunch, with witnesses.
You certainly have altercations, and sometimes altercations go wrong... but even then, you tend not to do these things on descents.
So whatever went down, I don't think it will be as Reichenbach is describing... and neither will it be as Moscon is claiming either.
It will be interesting to see which way the witnesses go once they are asked to give statements.
I agree, after all team cars and motorbikes take riders out with impunity, so he could just have asked his team car to do it.
ok....
oh right.
Right.
What I did there was give an opinion, then confirm that my opinion was based on nothing more than personal perception, and what that perception was. So....?
At least you won internet forum hero of the day with your pithy comment... glad I could help with that.
Sky training ride
If Sebastien Riechenbach has indeed lodged a formal complaint with the Italian police, he certainly believe that their are witnesses to corroborate what he is pretending or at least he is sure that their are no witnesses that say the opposite (their were no manœuvres or actions, voluntarily or not, from Moscon that could have bring him down). Because making a formal complaint to police based on false accusations is, most certainly, a criminal offense in Italy, like anywhere else. Now, you can prove Moscon responsibility, but it can be difficult to prove the intent even in the case where it's proven that manœuvres from Moscon that lead to Riechenbach crash. Unless it is obvious to witnesses that these manoeuvres would necessarily lead to a crash and were not what you would normally expect or he simply pushed him.
Reichenbach falls.... or was he pushed.
It's a case for the World's greatest detective, that's for sure.
Chapeau, pwake, chapeau.
So Gianni Moscon is a dick
News to almost nobody indeed.
Ah, the gift that keeps on giving.
Jesus. Just get rid of him already.
Sky taking out other riders? When did Cavendish re-sign with Sky?
Darthvadersayswhat?! Don't turn this into a conspiracy. If he did this and there is clear video evidence then it is grounds for immediate sacking. Doesn't seem to be a team issue.