German anti-vaxer and political muckraker Daniel Matissek recently published a conspiracy article professing COVID vaccines caused a mysterious outbreak of disease at the 50th Nove Colli Gran Fondo on 26 September, with vaccinated riders crashing and getting sick in droves.
Without any medical data, first hand observation or a endurance sports background, Matissek wrote of the Nove Colli: “Out of the blue there was an accumulation of falls without external contact as well as ‘spontaneous illnesses’. In rows, drivers dropped out who had felt good before the journey, but suddenly and unexpectedly collapsed under the physical strain.”
While there were crashes and riders got sick as we reported here, it is not out of the ordinary for cyclists to crash, especially those of geriatric age pushing themselves beyond normal physical limits for hours-on-end in a challenging VO2 based endurance sport during an autumn heat wave with high humidity.
Nonetheless, he goes on, “Since the vaccination of the participants is the only thing that differs this year from previous Nove-Colli races, where these phenomena have never occurred before, an investigation into the background would be necessary in terms of the safety of the athletes. But instead of providing open-ended and relentless enlightenment, the Italian health authorities are closing down just as much as anywhere else in the world where the vaccination dictates political action.”
An online search shows no records of Matissek having a medical or mass-participation sports background – unless playing poker counts? Until March 2021 he tried to earn a living gambling and operating gambling amusement arcades in Kaiserslautern, Germany. In March 2021 his business became insolvent and he turned to writing conspiracy stories to make a living.
Unfortunately, conspiracy theories are not a hoax.
PHOTOS: Instagram
GRAN FONDO DAILY NEWS 