Dmytro Grabovskyy (1985-2017) - The Dima's Abyss

«He had some problems, but he was a good bloke.»

– Paolo Bettini, former Grabo's Quick Step teammate

words: CHRISTIAN GIORDANO

The next Merckx. Another one, the umpteenth of an infinite series.
If it all goes wrong, the next Ullrich.
At worst, the next Soukhoroutchenkov.

Gold medal after a solitary break in the middle of the last lap ahead of the Australian William Walker and the Russian Evgeny Popov and silver medal between the Russian Michail Ignatiev and the New Zealander Peter Latham in the time trial of Casa de Campo at the World Championships in Madrid 2005; twice TT European champion in a row in Moscow 2005 and Valkenburg 2006; first place in the 2006 Tour of the Regions; second place - 5" behind Dario Cataldo - at Giro d'Italia Baby: Dmytro Grabovskyy in the Under 23 ranks was a sure bet, but also one with «a little problem» of which the peloton whispered but did not speak openly. No, it was not about doping, but another evil if possible even more sneaky -- the booze.

Ukrainian of Simferopol, where he was born in 1985, he seemed the classic enfant prodige of the old Eastern Europe who, when he was very young, moved to Tuscany to learn the trade. He lives in a little, modest house on San Baronto hill, the favorite climb near Lamporecchio whereas Vincenzo Nibali used to train on daily bases when he lived there. Among the amateurs, "Grabo" was a dominant force for Finauto, a satellite amateurish team of the Belgian powerhouse Quick-Step managed by gm Angelo Citracca and sporting director Luca Scinto, who always has been living there. 

In that team there are also riders like Giovanni Visconti - like the Nibali brothers another Sicilian native transplanted there as a kid for cycling reasons - and Alessandro Proni. With Visco he had a relationship that came and went (altough nowadays Giovanni is yet registered on the Facebook Dmytro Grabovskyy Fans Club official page); with Ale they were almost friends: "almost" because, beyond a certain limits, Grabo used to pulls his personal version of the old iron curtain up between himself and the rest of the world.

His raw talent on the bike, however, was extraordinary so Quick Step signed him as stageur in 2006, the very same year of his second consecutive time trial European title time in Moscow - and then they signed him with a two-year conjtract as professional. It seemed the beginning of a fairy tale with an obvious happy ending, but instead it was a sort of a door of hell.

In the winter of 2007, he had an almost lethal car accident. He said that he was driving too fast, but rumors circulated that he was driving despite an alcohol rate five times higher than the legal threshold permitted by law. The incumbent season, needless to say, has already gone -- It was all the fault of the car accident, peloton whispered and, this time, spoke loudly.

However, Quick-Step already did not believe in him anymore, or maybe they cannot wait for someone who won't ever - never - be neither the next Soukho nor the next Ullrich, let alone the next Merckx. Once again Scinto & Citracca, together with an Ukrainian co-sponsor, Industrial Union of Donbass (ISD), set up a Professional new cycling team. It looked like a sort of second chance for a seemingly lost enfant prodige: «They did not understood [Grabo], he had some problems, but also a great talent. With us, everything will be OK,» they said.

Dima, however, sinks more and more in an endless downward trajectory.

In 2009 he was admitted in two occasions for ethyl coma. «Wine and beer. No vodka, I do not like it,» he explained to Gazzetta dello Sport correspondent Claudio Ghisalberti at the beginning of January 2010. «I know I was wrong, but now there is only water in my fridge, and I've never used drugs. In Ukraine I did three training sessions a day, in the evening I was dead tired: I could only go to sleep. Afterwards, I felt too free. Training in the morning, and after lunch I went to the beach: parties, women, booze».

The big blow, the very point of no return, had been the betrayal by Quick Step in 2008. «They promised to take me to the Tour de France, but they did not take me and I went nuts. I fell off the wagon, but I'll get out of it, I'm sure». That was a Grabo who still believed it, the one that had opened his heart with Gazza's Ghisalberti at the beginning of 2010, the vgery same year of his best result in the pros: third place in a stage of Langkawi, and the King of the Mountains Classification at Tirreno-Adriatico. «Being with no for a long time brought me a bit of depression. I felt abandoned, I was drifting. Now I just think about riding again,» he said.

It worked, but just for a while. He rode 2011 season for ISD Continental team, that will join Lampre at the end of that year, then the new start and a change of nationality in Israel with his parents, the short and unlucky experience in triathlon, and finally the Chinese adventure in the Jilun-Shakeland Team. He put his last "dossard" on in Odessa, August 7, 2016.

On the night of January 23, 2017, the news you never wanted to read. In Arad, an Israeli town near the Negev Desert, the heart of the 31-year-old Grabo had stopped forever. Not his lovely memory. He was a good, sensitive guy with a smile for everyone, and a big heart in a deep abyss of anguish and loneliness.