Mario Cipollini has sparked controversy after suggesting Vincenzo Nibali should have paid $100,000 to Olympic Games road race rival Sergio Henao to ensure he won the gold medal instead of taking risks on the final descent to the finish.
Nibali crashed out on a corner, taking down Henao, with Belgium's Greg Van Avermaet going on to win the gold medal.
Cipollini made the suggestion during a long interview in L'Equipe about the magic of the World Championships. Cipollini won the rainbow jersey in Zolder in 2002 after a perfect performance by the Italian team. He told L'Equipe that he asked Christ to give him the strength to win before beating Robbie McEwen and Erik Zabel in the long surge to the line.
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Paying off rivals is illegal but Cipollini seemed to ignore the consequences of his suggestion.
"Van Avermaet was able to win because Vincenzo Nibali didn't manage the finale well when he was with Majka and Henao," L'Equipe reported Cipollini as saying.
"I could have understood him taking risks if he had been alone, to widen the gap, but not when he was halfway down the descent, in the trees, where the road was dark, damp and slippery. It would have sufficed to offer some money to Henao and things were sorted. For Henao, winning the [Olympic] games wouldn't have made a huge difference.
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