Zomegnan attacks Giro teams and UCI after Crostis cut from stage 14

Angelo Zomegnan, the director of the Giro d'Italia, has lambasted the teams and the UCI after they insisted the Crostis climb was cut from Saturday's fourteenth stage.

"On one side there are cowards and on the other side ineptitude," Zomegnan said on Italian television.

"The directeur sportifs have carried out an ambush with the UCI. Some directeur sportif are used to driving in their cars with air conditioning while watching the race on television.

"The problems were discussed last October, in March at a technical meeting, and before the Giro. This is a crazy decision. It has added more poison to the sport from people who should have been out of the sport a long time ago."

It seems that five of the 23 teams were in favour of racing over the Crostis but 18 were against the idea. It has emerged that Liquigas-Cannondale, Lampre-ISD and Farnese Vini were all in favour.

At the start of the stage in Lienz, the riders were largely in favour of cutting out the Crostis. They had accepted that the descent had been made safe but were angry that the sporting aspect of the race was lacking. They claimed a motorbike per team as mechanical support was not enough to make the racing fair for all the riders.

"It's the sensible thing to do. There was no guarantee of assistance and the ambulances could not to get there if there was a problem," Alberto Contador said.

Marco Pinotti agreed.

"I think it's a wise decision. It's just a pity it was made so late," he said. "The idea of doing this road without guarantees of assistance for all riders is against what road racing is about. This is road racing, not mountain biking."