Gaviria Drink Driving Charge | 5x Limit

Colombian speedster Fernando Gaviria was charged by courts in Monaco on Tuesday after he was caught drink driving, five times over the legal limit.

Gaviria was stopped for “dangerous driving” and “several violations of the highway code” while behind the wheel in Monaco on October 22.

According to local outlet Nice-Morningthe former Movistar racer had been drinking Moscow Mules since early that morning. Gaviria was reportedly five times over the drink-drive limit, or the equivalent of 2.4 grams of booze per liter of blood.

“You were one or two glasses from a coma. You were a public danger,” court president Florestan Bellinzona said on Tuesday.

Bellinzona and the courts handed Gaviria a €5,000 ($5,800 USD) fine, a two-year driving ban, and a two-month suspended sentence.

The 31-year-old cited “stress relating to family and work” for his lapse.

“I slept a few hours [after drinking] before going out. I thought I could take the car. In retrospect, that wasn’t the case,” he said.

“It was a mistake on my part. I won’t do it again.”

A new contract and a court hearing for Gaviria

Gaviria was sentenced the same day the second division team Caja Rural-Seguros RGA threw him a career lifeline with a contract for 2026.

Team Movistar chose not to extend the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia stage-winner’s deal after he won just three times in three years for “The Telófonica Blues.”

“Looking ahead to next season, my goal is to work hard, help the team in any way I can, and try to achieve victories,” Gaviria said this week in a Caja Rural press release.

“Competing in a grand tour would be special,” he said.

Court president Bellinzona questioned Gaviria on Tuesday: “Do you think that this pace of life is compatible with that of a high-level athlete?”

His response?

“No, it is not. It’s not normal, I know it.”