Rumsas investigated over son’s death

gweeds
gweeds Posts: 2,550
edited January 2018 in Pro race
https://cyclingtips.com/2017/09/doping- ... ons-death/

Over four months after his son collapsed and died, former Tour de France podium finisher Raimondas Rumsas is being investigated in connection with the death.

On May 1, Linus Rumsas lost consciousness and underwent examinations at the San Luca hospital in Lucca, Italy. Those tests included a cardiogram, but hospital staff assumed a printer error in relation to the latter and released him.

The following day he collapsed at 10.30 in his home. The Lituanian under 23 champion was aided by his family and then by ambulance staff, but despite being taken back to the hospital his heart stopped two hours later. The 21-year-old had been competing for the elite under 23 Altopack team, which has links to Trek-Segafredo.

Now German news agency SID reports that the prosecutor’s office in Lucca is investigation his father Raimondas. It said that searches of his family apartment plus the apartment of the president of the Altopack team had led to the seizing of banned substances and medicines.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, a total of five people are being investigated in connection to the administration of doping products, dealing in stolen goods and violating the anti-doping act.

Rumsas senior had a controversial career. The Lithuanian won the Il Lombardia Classic in 2000 and finished fifth in the Vuelta a España, won the Vuelta al Pais Vasco the following season and then went on to take third overall in the 2002 Tour de France.

However his satisfaction and reputation would be immediately shaken by the news that on the day of the Tour finish, his wife Edita was stopped at the French border and an array of doping substances were found. Her car contained corticoids, EPO, testosterone, growth hormone and steroids. She claimed the substances were for her mother but was jailed. Rumsas was summoned to France to testify but refused to do so, leading to her remaining in prison for several months.

At the time his lawyer said that he believed French police were holding her ‘as a kind of bait’ to lure him back. “Our client wants to help his wife, avoid going to prison himself and continue his cycling career all at the same time,” he claimed.

She was later released, but he tested positive for EPO in May 2003. His sixth-place finish in that year’s Giro d’Italia was struck off and he received a one-year ban. His career fizzled out after that. In January 2006 the duo were handed four-month suspended sentences for the importation of prohibited doping substances. The Polish doctor Krzysztof Ficek received a suspended one year sentence for prescribing the same products.

Now, over a decade later, questions about Rumsas’ attitude towards banned substances have resurfaced under far more serious circumstances.
Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.

Comments

  • jaysus

    :(
  • salsiccia1
    salsiccia1 Posts: 3,725
    How do these people get to the point where they don't consider, or even know anything else?
    It's only a bit of sport, Mun. Relax and enjoy the racing.
  • Salsiccia1 wrote:
    How do these people get to the point where they don't consider, or even know anything else?


    He has no morals to start with. Look no further than 'Rumsas was summoned to France to testify but refused to do so, leading to her (his wife) remaining in prison for several months.

    At the time his lawyer said that he believed French police were holding her ‘as a kind of bait’ to lure him back. “Our client wants to help his wife, avoid going to prison himself and continue his cycling career all at the same time,” he claimed.'


    No freaking sh&t
  • See also Eddy Merckx introducing Axel to Ferrari...
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    Sheeeeeeittt
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,221
    Surely you also have to query the medics originally discharging him and 'assuming' there was a printer error. That seems grossly negligent at face value. However, it certainly doesn't excuse a person not only cheating throughout his own career but then assisting / encouraging their own son to go down the same path despite the known risks to health and reputation.
  • Pross wrote:
    Surely you also have to query the medics originally discharging him and 'assuming' there was a printer error. That seems grossly negligent at face value. However, it certainly doesn't excuse a person not only cheating throughout his own career but then assisting / encouraging their own son to go down the same path despite the known risks to health and reputation.

    A salutary lesson, if ever there was one.
    Leopards and spots etc.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • People talk about Lance as the Devil, but Rumsas is the real Daddy of blood doping. After his ban, he found a second life in the Italian Granfondo scene, which is commonly referred to as the EPO Tour. He won many "prestigious" granfondo.

    This is obviously a big tragedy, but given the circumstances it is hard to feel sorry for Rumsas or his wife... I sincerely hope this time they lock him and throw away the key
    left the forum March 2023
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Jesus Christ! As a parent I spend a lot of time trying to help the kids avoid making some of the mistakes I made.

    Actually, thinking about it, maybe he thought his only mistake was getting caught...
  • keef66 wrote:
    Jesus Christ! As a parent I spend a lot of time trying to help the kids avoid making some of the mistakes I made...

    Clearly Raimondas doesn't see them as mistakes... given they have provided him with a living and means to do what he loved for a living.

    Let's be honest... there is a doping line and there is a health risk line... many people crossed the doping line but not the health risk line.

    Armstrong, Riis or Virenque look in remarkably better shape than Paul Gaiscogne, wherever your moral barometer is, I know who I would rather be
    left the forum March 2023
  • sherer
    sherer Posts: 2,460
    Pross wrote:
    Surely you also have to query the medics originally discharging him and 'assuming' there was a printer error. That seems grossly negligent at face value. However, it certainly doesn't excuse a person not only cheating throughout his own career but then assisting / encouraging their own son to go down the same path despite the known risks to health and reputation.

    the medics are the one who have something to answer for.. He was misdiagnosed \ ignored the print out. Yes his team seem to be under a doping investigation but that doesn't mean he was doping, maybe his Dad did warn him of the bad side and wanted him to race clean on a dirty team.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,646
    jaysus

    :(

    indeed!
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • dinyull
    dinyull Posts: 2,979
    I don't know of Rumsas upbringing, but can only assume cycling provided him with a good living and life.

    Maybe he wanted the same for his kid, and only knew of one way.

    Doesn't make it all right, but I can understand it in some circumstances.
  • The guy sounds like a total kn0bmoomin.
    Correlation is not causation.
  • I'm writing a play at the moment ( La Grotte if anyone is interested :) )

    The script above will do for the follow up!
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    Rumsas's other son Raimondas Jr has tested positive for some sort of Growth Hormone (on September 4). That's one seriously screwed up family.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    They re making the van Dreissche family look positively saintly...
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • jaysus

    absolute f'cker of a father

    its child abuse
  • ddraver wrote:
    They re making the van Dreissche family look positively saintly...


    no parakeet connection tho, which is sadz
  • He's a proper specimen. Would laugh but get reminded that his kid may have lost his life due to his shit.
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    See also Eddy Merckx introducing Axel to Ferrari...

    Dunno. Ethics aside, I don't think any of Ferrari's clients have suffered big health problems.

    If I knew doping was pervasive, and morally I had no problem with it, I would send my kid to Ferrari.

    Fuentes on the other hand...
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • ademort
    ademort Posts: 1,924
    RichN95 wrote:
    Rumsas's other son Raimondas Jr has tested positive for some sort of Growth Hormone (on September 4). That's one seriously screwed up family.

    The italian doping agency has just suspended him for 4 years. He will be able to compete again on 22 October 2021.
    ademort
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