Tour de France - Dear Sponsors

In the wake of the Riccardo Ricco doping scandal riders on the Saunier Duval/Scott team have written to the team's sponsors in the following letter -

To the sponsors of Saunier Duval-Scott cycling team -

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After the incidents in this edition of the Tour de France, we, the riders of Saunier Duval-Scott, would like to make the statement that the team in full, including cyclists, technical staff (Mauro Gianetti, Joxean Fernández Matxin, Pietro Algeri, Sabino Angoitia, and Matteo Algeri), and doctors (José Ibarguren, Juan Carlos Alameda, and María Sagasti) have always believed in clean and credible cycling, and this has been the guiding principle in all team meetings.

Our general manager, Mauro Gianetti, has encouraged us to get involved in humanitarian projects (fighting desertification in Mali, defending human rights, protecting the environment), teaching the importance of the human and ethical aspects associated with cycling beyond sports results.

We do not accept, and we strongly condemn, the choice made by riders seeking victory through deception. Therefore, we would not like this incident to stain the team´s impeccable reputation, or ours, or the management´s.

We are not ready to pay the price for the mistakes made by others, so he hope we can still rely on the trust society has always had in us, stemming from our serious, honest image.

Our principles have always been hard training and a healthy atmosphere, and we have been able to abide by them thanks to a team of supportive and helpful people who have expected sacrifice and good behaviour, rather than great sports results, of us.

We cannot and do not want to ignore the facts: cheaters need to be punished. But we also believe that those who have always fought honestly to defend the honour of the team should be protected.

We believe we still have a lot to do in the world of cycling, and we need your support to continue, showing Saunier Duval-Scott is a team of reliable and honest riders and, above all, trustworthy men.

The riders of Saunier Duval-Scott: Raúl Alarcón, Raivis Belohvosciks, Alberto Benítez, Rubens Bertogliati, Iker Camaño, David Cañada, Eros Capecchi, Ermanno Capelli, Juan José Cobo, David de la Fuente, Jesús del Nero, Arkaitz Durán, Alberto Fernández de la Puebla, Denis Flahaut, Ángel Gómez, José Ángel Gómez Marchante, Héctor González, Beñat Intxausti, Josep Jufré, Rubén Lobato, Javier Megías, Manuele Mori, Luciano Pagliarini, Aurélien Passeron.