During this year’s Tour de France, Italian rider Luca Paolini was informed that he had tested positive for cocaine. An Adverse Analytical Finding of Cocaine (Benzoylecgonine metabolite) was found in a sample collected during an in-competition control on 7 July 2015.

He initially denied the use of the drug. “I do not know what to say, I’m stunned. I did not take cocaine,” he told La Gazetta Dello Sport after the news emerged.

However, in today’s edition of La Gazetta, Paolini has admitted that he used cocaine two weeks before the start of the Tour de France.

The 38 year-old who won this year’s Ghent-Wevelgem said that he started using sleeping pills following the death of his brother, which led on to his use of cocaine.

“It all started with an addiction to sleeping pills. I started taking them in 2004 at the death of my brother,” Paolini said.

“And sport adds to the everyday problems. It generates tension, stress. Mentally, it affects you greatly and it is at that moment I begin to use substances. These errors led me to use cocaine.”

Paolini said that his use of cocaine happened during a solitary training camp in the mountains, where he was preparing for the Tour de France.

“I never asked for help to others,” Paolini said. “The biggest lesson I learned was that I should not hide everything inside when there are problems. I tried to stop sleeping pills, but it was difficult.”

“And then came the cocaine. I was alone that night, for two weeks in the mountains training, in mid-June before the Tour. I can not forgive myself. I betrayed a generation that believed in me.”

Paolini said that he has attended a clinic in Verona for two weeks to help with his addiction to sleeping pills.

Earlier this month, the UCI announced that it had referred Paolini’s case to the UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal. The Tribunal will hear his case and render a judgment in accordance with the Tribunal Procedural Rules.

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