Allegations that Italian intentionally crashed FDJ rider could lead to ban
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Gianni Moscon (Team Sky) claims third place(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Sébastian Reichenbach (FDJ) at the 2017 Giro d'Italia(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Gianni Moscon (Team Sky) finishes Giro dell'Emilia(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Sébastian Reichenbach (FDJ) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Gianni Moscon rode an aggressive Paris-Roubaix on his way to fifth place(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
After hearing testimony from FDJ's Sebastian Reichenbach and other riders, the UCI has referred the case in which the Swiss rider alleges that Gianni Moscon (Team Sky) intentionally caused him to crash to its Disciplinary Commission, Cyclingnews understands.
UCI rules allow for a ban from one to six months for incidents between riders involving 'behaving in a violent manner' if a guilty verdict is reached.
Reichenbach confirmed in late December that the UCI had taken his testimony and the statements of other riders who witnessed the crash in the Tre Valle Varisene race which left Reichenbach with an open fracture to the elbow and a fractured hip.
FDJ was quick to point the finger at Moscon and claim that he caused the crash on purpose. The Team Sky rider vehemently denied this and suggested that Reichenbach's hand slipped from the bars. The FDJ rider intimated that Moscon pushed him in retribution for a prior incident in 2017 in which Reichenbach had called him out on hurling racial epithets at his FDJ teammate Kévin Reza during the Tour de Romandie.
Reichenbach did not name Moscon in his complaint on Twitter, but fans were quick to identify the Italian as the offender based on photos of a confrontation between Reza and Moscon. The incident led to Team Sky suspending Moscon for six weeks - an action that pre-empted any formal sanction by the UCI, whose Disciplinary Commission declined to add any further punishment.
Since the incidents, Brian Cookson has been replaced by David Lappartient as UCI President, and the Frenchman has stated that he is watching the Moscon case closely.
"If, after racially abusing one rider, he later pushed one of his teammates off his bike, then he has nothing to do with cycling if he behaves like this," Lappartient said last month.
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When contacted, Team Sky refused to make any comment on an ongoing investigation. Cyclingnews understands that Moscon has yet to be formerly heard by the UCI but has supplied information and reportedly also has witnesses. He is determined to defend his name.
