The former EF Education-EasyPost rider has traded his Cannondale for a Porsche Macan, and his HGH for… counterfeit Euros?
Just when you thought the career trajectory of Andrea Piccolo couldn’t get any sillier, the universe said, “Hold my counterfeit beer.” The former Italian wonderkid was once considered the future of Grand Tour racing and wore the leader’s jersey at the Vuelta a España as recently as 2023. Now he’s in a Naples jail cell.
Piccolo was stopped by the Carabinieri while driving a Porsche Macan with San Marino plates. During the search, officers found €2,000 in fake banknotes hidden under the steering wheel.
A Long Way Down from the WorldTour
For those who haven’t been following the Andrea Piccolo Cinematic Universe, let’s recap the last 24 months.
His journey started as a European Junior TT Champion, signed to EF Education-EasyPost, where Jonathan Vaughters expected he had the next Vincenzo Nibali on his hands.
But in 2024, he was caught at the Italian border transporting human growth hormone. He admitted to transporting substances but used the classic doper defense of asserting he had never tested positive. EF fired him immediately.
Banned from racing, Piccolo went away quietly, learned some humilit– no, wait, we’re hearing that he actually started getting his knob out on OnlyFans with his girlfriend, the Colombian influencer Valentina Gomez.
And now he’s running counterfeit cash, for whatever reason.
It’s a bizarre fall from grace for a rider who is still only in his mid-20s. From leading a Grand Tour to selling dick pics online, to stashing fake bills in a luxury SUV… it’s a cautionary tale that honestly makes the usual doping bans look boring by comparison.