“Pay-to-ride” case takes another turn as five-year bans for former Vini Zabù managers are overturned

Angelo Citracca and Luca Scinto will no longer serve the five-year suspensions imposed on them over the Vini Zabù ‘pay-to-ride’ case after the Italian Cycling Federation’s (FCI) Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the disciplinary proceedings had become time-barred.

The decision brings an extraordinary chapter in the history of the former Italian team to another legal turning point, more than five years after a doping investigation helped uncover allegations concerning the way riders were recruited and paid.

The FCI’s first-instance Federal Tribunal had ruled in June that Citracca, the former Vini Zabù team manager, and Scinto, the team’s sporting director, were disciplinarily responsible for breaches concerning sporting loyalty, integrity and moral conduct. Both were given five-year bans, running from June 5, 2026 until June 5, 2031, together with €5,000 fines.

Both men appealed, and the Federal Court of Appeal heard their cases together on September 4. Its ruling, published this week, accepted both appeals and declared the disciplinary proceedings extinguished because of the statute of limitations. The five-year sanctions were therefore revoked immediately. The court has said the full reasoning will follow separately.

The case dates back to the final years of Vini Zabù, a team that disappeared from professional cycling at the end of 2021. The wider investigation began after a series of doping cases placed the squad under intense scrutiny.

In October 2020, Vini Zabù rider Matteo Spreafico returned two adverse analytical findings for ostarine during the Giro d’Italia. Then, in March 2021, Matteo De Bonis was notified of an adverse finding for EPO from an out-of-competition sample collected in February. Because the two cases involved members of the same team within a 12-month period, the UCI's rules triggered a team suspension.

The UCI ultimately suspended Vini Zabù for 30 days, from April 7 to May 6, 2021. The team had also given up its invitation to the 2021 Giro d’Italia amid the controversy.

The subsequent investigation by Italy’s police went beyond the doping allegations. According to reporting on the case, riders told investigators that they had been pressured to return part of their salaries to management in order to retain their places on the team. The allegations became associated with the wider “pay to ride” system, in which riders could effectively be required to provide money or sponsorship in exchange for opportunities to race professionally.

The allegations were particularly significant in Citracca’s case because they echoed an earlier disciplinary case. In 2017, the FCI’s Federal Court of Appeal imposed a three-month suspension on Citracca after finding that he had violated sporting rules in connection with requests for money or sponsorship linked to riders’ opportunities to race. Citracca denied wrongdoing at the time.

The later Vini Zabù investigation was considerably broader. Prosecutors in Pistoia eventually brought extortion-related charges involving Citracca and Scinto, while the case also involved allegations concerning other individuals connected to the team. In November 2025, a preliminary hearing sent the extortion case toward trial.

In June 2026, the FCI's first-instance tribunal concluded that Citracca and Scinto had breached a series of federation provisions relating to sporting loyalty, integrity, honesty, moral conduct and the protection of the federation's image. It consequently imposed the five-year suspensions and €5,000 fines.

Their successful appeal did not overturn those findings on their merits. Instead, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the disciplinary proceedings themselves had expired under the applicable statute of limitations. The sanctions were consequently revoked immediately.

That means the latest decision should not be interpreted as a finding that the allegations surrounding the Vini Zabù affair were disproven. Rather, the FCI's appeal court determined that too much time had elapsed for the disciplinary proceedings to continue.