Through his management agency A & J All Sports, Luca Paolini has denied a misunderstaning stemming from his big interview last Sunday, underlining that he was suffering from sleeping pill addiction and not cocaine addiction. He has undergone detoxification for benzodiazepine which is "contained in simple sleeping pills."

Paolini has issued the following statement:

Following the publication of several articles in the press, especially the foreign one, in relation to the interview published in Gazzetta dello Sport on December 27, 2015 which have misinterpreted the meaning and content, Luca Paolini wants to clarify things.

Luca Paolini has never been nor is now addicted to cocaine or, likewise, never underwent any treatment in any clinical setting to treat an alleged addiction to that substance. It is true, however, that the sportsman has undergone treatment for addiction to benzodiazepines contained in simple sleeping pills and has begun a process of detoxification which has nothing to do with what is reported by mistake in the press articles mentioned above.

To protect his image and reputation, Luca Paolini has instructed his lawyers to proceed in the manner they deem most appropriate.