CSF Group-Navigare counters Klöden's accusations

Professional continental team CSF Group-Navigare, which rides in the Giro d'Italia, released a statement, countering the accusations of Astana rider Andreas Klöden, which he made in an interview to Gazzetta dello Sport.

Klöden had said that he is clean and has been controlled 22 times this year. "Seven of those controls came from within my team. I am controlled by five different entities – WADA [world anti doping agency], NADA [German anti doping agency], UCI [International cycling federation], the Swiss cycling federation and PWC [a private German company conducting anti doping tests - ed.] At the Giro, there are only four teams with a tight control system – Slipstream, High Road, CSC and Astana... [Davide] Rebellin and [Riccardo] Riccò, I don't know how often they have controls like me. I don't want to talk about the team of Priamo."

It is the last remark that upset CSF Navigare, referring to its rider, Matteo Priamo, who won stage 6 in the Giro.

Team manager Bruno Reverberi said that "We have already spoken to our lawyer, Claudio Pasqualin, about possible legal actions against what Andreas Klöden had said. He launched accusations against a team – ours – but the German does not know what kind of anti doping controls we do... Our program and our controls do not come [publicly announced], unlike from other teams; even in the recent past, we did everything that we were clean... We will defend the image of society and [the image] of the athletes."

In a brief statement to Cyclingnews before the start of stage 10, Priamo said, "I never had the chance to talk to Klöden. I always thought he was a good person, but that made me change my mind." Stay tuned for more on the matter in the next news edition.