"Completely unreasonable"

Doping Test at Her Deceased Mother’s Bedside

Cyclist Valentina Cavallar has gone through an extremely difficult time.(Bild: Krone-Collage/AFP/APA/MARCO BERTORELLO, Screenshot/Instagram_cavallar.valentina)

Cyclist Valentina Cavallar lost her mother in September—but in the midst of her grief and the most difficult hours of her life so far, it wasn’t the funeral directors who showed up at her door, but suddenly the anti-doping officials. And they took a sample from the 25-year-old—while her mother’s body lay in the room next door! In an interview with the “Krone,” the cycling star leveled serious accusations. 

“I understand the importance of clean sports and have always had great respect for the responsibility that comes with being a professional athlete—but at that moment, I was just a daughter who had lost her mother.”