ada@prorider.or
06-02-2005, 04:20 PM
Gaumont touched on other illegal practices within the peloton, explaining how his team got paid for working with Telekom during the ill-fated 2003 Paris-Nice, where Cofidis rider Andrei Kivilev crashed and died. "Once, I was ashamed," wrote Gaumont. "It was in Paris-Nice, in 2003. Our teammate, Kazakh Andrei Kivilev had died two days previously as a result of a crash...The race finished on Mont Faron...and Alexandre Vinokourov, Kivilev's best friend, was well placed to take the lead in the general classification. An break had gone and in the earpiece, I asked our sports director: What do we do? Do we help Telekom ride?...With his car, he drew up beside Telekom's and then told us in the microphone: 'It's OK, do it. I negotiated €3000 day (for the whole team) until Sunday. We did it, we rode for three days, without asking questions. Vino won Paris-Nice and we pocketed money. In the newspapers, they described the beauty of our gesture..."