Ex-doper turned OnlyFans creator arrested for possession of counterfeit banknotes

A former professional cyclist, fired from his team for possession of human growth hormones, has been arrested in Italy on suspicion of possessing counterfeit banknotes.

Andrea Piccolo, 24, attracted the attention of police when they spotted his San Marino-licensed Porsche in Naples. Piccolo was stopped for inspection, and the banknotes, amounting to €2000, were found beneath the car’s steering wheel, as first reported by Italian publication Fanpage.it A 23-year-old and a 56-year-old were also reported as being in the car.

It’s the latest extraordinary turn in the life and career of the young Italian forced to switch careers.

When rider’s retire, most of them are forced to consider a form of ‘real-world’ employment. A select few get to stay in the sport, either working for teams or the media. But for the recent generation of riders who have faced doping bans and been ostracised, their imagination needs to extend a little further. Miguel Ángel López, for example, after receiving a four-year ban for “use and possession” of human growth hormone, became an online meat salesman. Similarly Andrea Piccolo’s life has taken rather strange turns, at times leaving little to the imagination.

Piccolo’s brief professional career was erratic, dropped by Astana after five months in 2021, the following year he rode for Gazprom-RusVelo (before the Russian invasion of Ukraine), Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli and finally EF Education First, where he remained until he was suspended by the team in 2024. In that time, Piccolo led the Vuelta a Espana for a day in 2023, taking advantage of an early stage neutralisation by being in a breakaway. He also podiumed several second-tier races whilst his biggest World Tour results were a fourth place on a stage of the Giro d’Italia, and an 11th place finish in his home race, Il Lombardia.

Then his world came crashing down. EF’s General Manager Jonathan Vaughters said the team had suspended him a month’s pay in March 2024 after he took a sleeping aid without the team’s permission. Then in June of that year, the Italian was arrested by police as part of a targeted anti-doping operation. Piccolo was found with human growth hormone when attempting to return home from a trip to Colombia, and promptly fired by the team. Posting on Bluesky about Piccolo’s latest offence, freelance journalist Chris Marshall-Bell said he expected to “soon” hear details of Piccolo’s incoming doping ban. At the time of his firing from the team, Piccolo claimed innocence on the basis he “never tested positive” for any of the substances he was caught attempting to transport.

After his forced retirement, Piccolo’s human growth hormone was perhaps put to use as the Italian joined OnlyFans, a subscription and pay-per-view website known for its adult content. Piccolo’s girlfriend, Colombian model Valentina Gomez, was already a content creator on the website with a 3 million strong following on Instagram alone.

Even before Piccolo’s career turn, Gomez’s presence was enough to put the Daily Mail on the story, and they wrote up anecdotes of Piccolo stealing toothpaste, and Gomez waking up Piccolo’s EF teammates in the middle of the night by setting off fireworks. Piccolo’s former teammate Alberto Bettiol, speaking before the 2024 Tour de France, summed up his impression by saying “when Piccolo came to the team, I befriended him because he was Italian like me and tried to help him. Now I see him as a d***head.”

Besides the counterfeit banknote charge, all three men in the car were also charged with “unjustified carrying of objects capable of offending” after a telescopic baton was found in the vehicle. With legal battles now rearing their head for 24-year-old Piccolo, the cyclist-cum-content creator will find out if there really is no such thing as bad publicity.