Like last year’s events the 2002 Giro D’Italia road race is having more than its fair share of drug problems, but if anything it’s showing riders are more dopey than doped.

First casualty was race leader Garzelli of the Mapei team, who tested positive for a tiny amount of mild diuretic – probenecid – normally used to treat gout. It was widely used as a masking agent to cover the signs of performance enhancing drugs but recent drugs tests have rendered it obsolete and the amount found apparently wouldn’t have hidden a strong cup of tea. Mapei – a team with a very strong and vocal anti drugs stance – have therefore been trying to claim they’ve been stitched up, as other riders apparently had a day of incontinence when Garzelli tested positive.

Then it was announced that front runner and yesterday’s stage winner Simoni tested positive for cocaine at a random non-race test earlier this year. Again Simoni denies it all, and claims that the results could have been from a visit to his dentist that morning, although cocaine was largely dropped from dentists’ medicine cabinets at around the same time they started using electric lights! Due to Italian regulations Simoni can continue in the Giro, but the Saeco team place in the Tour De France is now looking doubtful.

The latest drug dumbness award surely goes to Dario Frigo, who was discovered to be in possession of several “suspicious vials” when Police raided his hotel room while he was leading last year’s Giro. Frigo confessed possession of performance enhancing drugs but said that they were just in case and he hadn’t actually used them. Regardless he was fired by his team on the spot and has only just finished his racing suspension. Claims that the drugs hadn’t played a part in his first place position have now been made more plausible by recent tests that revealed two vials labeled Haemassist (a blood boosting product similar to EPO) in fact contained saline contact lens cleaner. In short Frigo had been done.

Meanwhile the other ‘dirty’ aspect of road cycling – the ex mountain bikers – are still holding in there. Cadel Evans (was Cannondale, now Mapei) was going well up yesterday’s mountain until the gradient eased off and the speed increased to the point where his elfin bodyweight wasn’t much of an advantage. He’s still in the top ten overall though. Michael Rasmussen (ex Giant, now CSC Tiscali) had a less amusing time with an undone back wheel that rubbed on the brakes whenever he stood up – and we thought that was a rank, amateurs only excuse 😉

The Giro continues with another tough mountain stage today, and racing is close enough to make an afternoon in front of Eurosport (working with the laptop obviously) an exciting prospect, despite David Duffields’ commentating. If anything exciting or amusing happens we’ll let you know, but otherwise Cycling News do it comprehensively.