The Tuscan home of RadioShack rider Yaroslav Popovych, who earlier this month testified before a Federal Grand Jury in the United States that he had never witnessed drug-taking while part of Lance Armstrong’s team, has been searched as part of an Italian investigation into doping within sport.
Popovych’s house, near Florence, was raided on Thursday evening by Guardia di Finanza officers operating from Padova and Brescia-based Carabinieri from the Nucleo Antisofisticazione (NAS) which deals with public health issues.
The raid, which reportedly led to the seizure of unspecified medicines, was authorised by a warrant issued by the Padua-based prosecutor Benedetto Roberti, who is in charge of a long-running investigation into doping within Italian sport that has seen the homes of many leading riders based in the country being searched.
Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, while stressing that there is no official confirmation, has speculated that the raid may be linked to the ongoing investigation in the United States into doping within professional cycling led by Special Agent Jeff Novitzky of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
Testifying before a Grand Jury in Los Angeles earlier this month, the Ukrainian rider swore under penalty of perjury that he had seen no evidence of drug-taking while riding alongside Armstrong for Discovery Channel in 2005, the year in which the Texan won his seventh and final Tour de France title, or, more recently, at Astana in 2009 or RadioShack in the season just finished.
Popovych was issued with a subpoena on 22 October in Austin, Texas, where he was attending the Livestrong Challenge Austin fundraiser for Armstrong’s charity.
According to the New York Daily News, Popovych’s attorney Ken Miller said that the 30-year-old “doesn't know anything about what the focus of the investigation is," adding, "he did testify and he's happy to have it behind him."
Whether or not the Italian raid is linked to the American investigation, it seems that Popovych may not quite be finished in his dealings with the authorities, although there’s no news yet of how the Italian prosecutor intends to proceed.
Referring to the subpoena of Popovych, Armstrong’s attorney Bryan Daly told the New York Daily News: "It's another example of the extremes to which the government is going in a case that doesn't warrant it."
In my case the seat post wasn't tightened resulting in a short but violent contact with the top tube.
'Fair' to drivers, an interesting idea; aren't drivers super privileged to start with? They can afford it for a start (many other road users can't)...
Accurate too!
There are times when I think that these right whinger accounts are left wingers in drag, the aguments they espouse are so ridiculous, or don't...
Or any non-drivist. A few years back, I was walking and crossing a side road not far from home. The road has particularly wide corners, especially...
Doesn't quite meet the standard of "unavoidable" though does it?
This was it in November 2022. Now you see the futility of reporting things to the police or DVLA
I'm trying to login at my mobile and it says I need to subscreve. What should I do?
I can tell you exactly what LC will be doing about that offence: nothing. I used to get letters like those- in fact, exactly like that. When you...
I was trying to be funny. OK, I accept it was a pretty weak attempt.