All life working to achieve a dream. A hard road, full of sacrifices and many obstacles that any cyclist must overcome to have a chance to rub shoulders with the elite. Antonio Tiberi has been one of those who managed to get through this trance and when the time has come to start his career, everything has suddenly vanished. Because of him.
Last June the cyclist dedicated himself, from the window of his residence in San Marino, to shooting with a compressed air rifle. There was no objective in this action, just testing the weapon. Obviously it is not a toy and one of the shots ended the life of a cat. The cat of the Minister of Tourism of the country.
The case did not go viral until months later when he went to trial and was sentenced to pay 4,000 euros to those affected. Trek, upon hearing the news, also took action and suspended the cyclist for 20 days from both activity and salary. Both parties agreed that during this period he would go on probation and that the teams kept the right to dismiss him permanently if Tiberi did not act in accordance with the values of the formation.
Two months have passed since this decision was made and Tiberi has not competed again. The young Italian rejoined his squad to prepare for upcoming competitions, but last Sunday Trek made the dismissal "by mutual agreement" official, leaving Tiberi without a team in the middle of the season.
During this time "on trial" Tiberi has dedicated himself to apologizing and donating his salary to animal organizations but for the North American team it has not been enough and they have considered that the climber "does not meet their criteria to return to the competition".
Tiberi, at just 21, has great promise but his career could very well end here. It would not be the first case where extra-sports actions condemn a cyclist forever. What we know for sure is that until August 1 he will not be able to put on a number again on the World Tour, since the teams cannot sign up until that date. If there is any team willing to give it a second chance, we will see it from that date.
Of course, he is an excellent climber with a lot of potential to squeeze, but in cycling it is not enough to have good legs, it is also important to show correct values. Actions have consequences and this has been discovered in the most bitter way by Antonio Tiberi who may have destroyed the opportunity of his life in the most absurd way.
