EF fires Andrea Piccolo after rider reportedly caught with HGH

June 21, 2024

Piccolo has not yet been publicly charged with an anti-doping offense and the UCI has yet to comment, as the incident became public late Friday evening in Europe. An e-mail request for comment to Piccolo’s agent was not immediately returned. When reached via text message, EF general manager Jonathan Vaughters confirmed the news to Escape Collective.

In a text message to Vaughters, written mostly in Spanish with a few words in Italian, Piccolo expressed remorse while admitting he had been subject to a search. “Jonathan te hablo con sinceridad porque ya perdi todo y soy consapevole de esto… Lleve desde colombia 4 medicinales que me uno no quiero hacer nombra quiero tomarme mi responsibilidad en esto…” Piccolo wrote. “las encontraron y me la sequestraron en aeropuerto…” [Translated: Jonathan I speak to you sincerely because I have already lost everything and I am aware of this… I have taken four medications from Colombia that I do not want to name, I want to take my responsibility for this… They found them and confiscated them at the airport.”] escape