Rome, May 25 (LaPresse) – “They offered me money to throw the Giro.” So says Eddy Merckx, who will turn 80 on June 17, in an interview with Corriere della Sera.
The 1969 Giro d’Italia is remembered for one of the most dramatic moments in Italian television history: the interview by Sergio Zavoli in room 11 of the Excelsior Hotel in Albisola, after Merckx was disqualified for doping.
Lying in bed, crying, he repeated: “I didn’t take anything.”
“Absolutely not,” Merckx now reiterates. “I clearly remember what happened in Savona. Yes, I cried. I was ready to race. They tested the urine taken the night before and stopped me. It was the same substance – fencamfamine – found in Gimondi the year before. But he was cleared.
I had no reason to dope. It was a flat, pointless stage. I had almost won the Giro. I was in the pink jersey and knew I'd be tested. Someone set me up. And the pink jersey went to Gimondi, even though he refused to wear it.”
According to Merckx, the man who offered him money was Rudy Altig, from the Salvarani team: “He offered me a lot of money to throw the Giro. Maybe if I had accepted, I wouldn’t have tested positive.”
But Merckx refused: “You don’t sell a Giro.”
Asked if he believes Gimondi knew about the offer, Merckx replies: “Altig was his teammate. I believe he did.”
Despite everything, Merckx says he always had a good relationship with Gimondi: “With him and his daughter. I cried when he died. On a personal level we got along well. But in races, everyone defends their own interests. Felice Gimondi was the rival of my life. And he was a great rider – he had already won the Tour and the Giro before I came along. He won another Giro after I retired.”
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