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Fabian Cancellara threatens legal action over Phil Gaimon's book

Fabian Cancellara's legal team demand the sale of Gaimon's book cease immediately and want a public apology

“I dismissed it until I heard his former teammates talk about certain events where Cancellara had his own mechanic, his bike was kept separate from everyone else’s, and he rode away from a ‘who’s who’ of dopers,” Phil Gaimon wrote in his book Draft Animals.
 
“When you watch the footage, his accelerations don’t look natural at all, like he’s having trouble staying on the top of the pedals. That f*cker probably did have a motor.”

According to Het Nieuswsblad, Cancellara’s lawyers have demanded the book's sale is immediately halted, pulled off the shelves and want him to issue a public apology.

According to Het Nieuswsblad, they have contacted the publishers of the book and ordered them to cease selling it. “In addition, we also want Gaimon to publicly apologize,” says Cancellara’s manager Armin Meier.

Former Team Saxo Bank mechanic Rune Kristensen has dismissed claims that Fabian Cancellara used a hidden motor to win the 2010 Tour of Flanders. “I simply do not think it’s possible to cheat on an electric motor without being discovered,” Kristensen said to ekstrabladet.dk. “In 2010, I was a mechanic at the two races with Cancellara’s permanent mechanic, Roger Theel, and we jointly assembled all the team’s bikes for Spring Classics” he said.

In the meantime the UCI president David Lappartient has stated “We can’t rule out opening an investigation if new elements come into our possession.We need to know exactly what is behind this. Of course, I heard all the rumors, like everybody, and I just want to know exactly. So we will investigate, that is our job”.

Former rider Jean-Christophe Peraud has joined the UCI as the Manager of Equipment and the Fight against technological fraud. Peraud will be in charge of the management of approval of procedures for equipment and clothing used in competition, the management of projects concerning the use of new technologies in cycling events, and the fight against technological fraud.

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