When the Giro d’Italia race jury called on riders this week to stop urinating in bottles and discarding them, the response, naturally, was to look for the culprit.
The act was “strictly prohibited”, the race organisers reminded. Besides, who would do it anyway? Over the past few days, the investigation has gathered pace online under the moniker ‘pee-gate’. A Canadian outlet dubbed it ‘the icky bottle phenomenon’. Meanwhile, the Belgian press set out to ask riders who they thought was behind the offence.
“It doesn’t happen often,” XDS Astana’s Arjen Livyns told Het Nieuwsblad. “I’ve never done it myself, and I actually only know one rider who definitely does: Victor Campenaerts. I think he invented the concept, because he was already doing it when we rode together at Lotto.”
Livyns wasn't the only rider to point to Campenaerts. The Belgian's name then came up again, this time from the mouth of his compatriot Oliver Naesen (Decathlon CMA CGM) in an interview with Sporza. “I only know two who do it: Campi and [Peter] Sagan,” he said. The latter retired two years ago.
Though Campenaerts was not named in the race jury’s statement after stage nine, there was a damning paper trail behind him: he was fined 200 CHF (£190 / $250) the previous day for “unseemly or inappropriate behaviour (urinating in front of public during the race at Km 76) and damage to the image of sport”.
So, was it Campenaerts who triggered the warning? Is he the bottle-peeing pioneer, as Livyns claimed? And, more importantly, why was he doing it?
As Thursday’s 12th stage got under way, Campenaerts addressed the accusations in one of his daily Instagram vlogs, titled 'pee-gate statement'.
“By very very popular demand, I will give an explanation about the pee bottle,” he began.
“We ride the bikes through the whole country, and I think by law in most countries it’s forbidden to urinate in public. Next to that, there are a lot of crowds at the side of the road.”
Campenaerts's solution was simple: “I will pee in the bottle to not pee in somebody’s front yard, or not pee on people that are next to the road, then just give the bottle to the cars behind. Only good intentions.
“Unfortunately we don’t have a pee zone or toilets at the side of the roads, like you see in triathlon, so we are a bit forced in long events – five-six hours, sometimes seven hours – to find our place to pee. Sometimes it’s challenging, but it’s now forbidden by the UCI. So you will never see me doing that again.
“The accusation of me being the ‘inventor’ might be right, but it’s forbidden now. Won’t happen again.”
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UCI rule 8.6 prohibits riders from “urinating in public at the start or finish or during the race”. The governing body also has strict rules on disposing of bottles, which it says riders must not do in a “careless or dangerous manner”.
No riders have received fines for urinating at the Giro d'Italia since stage nine's warning. If Campenaerts is indeed the peloton's only culprit, the 'pee-gate' saga may now officially be over.
