Luca Scinto has spoken to Tuttobici’s website, confirming that he has stepped down as a directeur sportif at the Neri Sottoli team.

He has hinted that the three EPO positives in the last year and a half have affected him and he no longer feels that he can engage with the riders anymore. Danilo Di Luca and Mauro Santambrgio both popped positives in the 2013 giro and Matteo Rabottini tested positive this September.

The MPCC and its members then voted to have the team removed from the goup, which may hammer their chances of getting into the Giro d’Italia next season, which is the team’s raison d’être for existing.

“I've decided to take a step back, it's something I've been thinking about since September. I feel bitter and disappointed. I don't have the enthusiasm to talk to the riders like I used to. I'm not the Scinto that everyone knows,” he told Tuttobici.

“In the last 18 months a lot of things were bothering me and the last straw was Rabottini's positive, followed by lots of comments in the media that ran like 'Why doesn't Scinto control his riders? He's not good enough.' I've gone from being considered a good DS to being considered an idiot. That's led me to losing my enthusiasm. I was always taking my negative feelings home. My wife Angela advised me to quit cycling but I can't do that. But I feel I need to take a step back.”

The team was initially denied a Pro Continental license but the decision was taken to give them one provided they “undergo stringent controls by the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation and the UCI to verify the team’s implementation of their announced anti-doping measures.” 

The stress and bad press has proved too much for Scinto, who will step back from the team, but he says he couldn’t leave cycling entirely as he loves it too much. He will work with a junior team connected to Neri Sottoli to help bring some new riders into the team's ranks.

“I told the riders I'm still part of the team but that I don't know in what role. I don't know how long it'll take, perhaps three months, perhaps six months, a year or even longer....” he said.

“I just need to switch off for a bit. I don't want to have to spend most of my time answering questions to the Anti-Doping investigators instead of with the riders. I'll stay in cycling and work with the Junior team named after (close friend) Franco Ballerini. That's where I'm going to restart. Let's see where that road leads.”