Italian police arrested former professional cyclist Andrea Piccolo in Naples this week after discovering counterfeit banknotes hidden inside a luxury SUV, Italian media reported.<\/p>\n
Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport<\/em> first reported the arrest in what\u2019s the latest twist for the once-promising Italian cycling talent.<\/p>\n According to Italian media reports, police stopped a Porsche Macan with San Marino plates near Piazza Municipio late Monday and uncovered \u20ac2,000 in fake \u20ac20 notes concealed beneath the steering column.<\/p>\n Two other men were in the vehicle, and police also found a telescopic baton, considered a weapon under Italian law.<\/p>\n Piccolo, who was behind the steering wheel, was taken into custody, according to Italian media reports.<\/p>\n Piccolo\u2019s career flamed out before it really started, much of it from his own doing.<\/p>\n Now 24, he turned professional in 2021 after a string of top results, and bounced between teams before EF Education-EasyPost gave him a shot. He raced the Giro d\u2019Italia and Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, even wearing the Vuelta leader\u2019s red jersey early in the Spanish grand tour in 2023.<\/p>\n Things unraveled in 2024 after Italian authorities stopped him on suspicion of illegally importing growth hormone.<\/p>\n EF Education-EasyPost \u2014 which had already suspended him for taking a medication without team approval \u2014 quickly dismissed him.<\/p>\n He hasn\u2019t raced since the 2024 Giro and is still waiting for the outcome of a possible anti-doping case.<\/p>\n Piccolo later made headlines after his pro career ended when his profile showed up on the adult site OnlyFans, alongside a girlfriend, promising insight into the life of a pro cyclist.<\/p>\n There is no official reaction from Piccolo.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/cycling-bad-boy-piccolo-turned-onlyfans-model-arrested-with-2500-in-fake-bills\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/piccolo2.jpg”] Updated February 4, 2026 09:49AM Italian police arrested former professional cyclist Andrea Piccolo in Naples this week after discovering counterfeit banknotes hidden inside a luxury SUV, Italian media reported. Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport first reported the arrest in what\u2019s the latest twist for the once-promising Italian cycling talent. According […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1749786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1749786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1749786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1749786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1749786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}