Riccardo Riccò is an Idiot
I was hoping to change pace a little today and get into the holiday theme, but after reading a few articles the last couple days about Riccardo Riccò, I can’t help myself.
Where to start? Obviously, by the guy’s actions, he’s not a smart man. And that would be a generous statement. But, we can’t just rely on his actions, he goes ahead and talks. And that just more that emphasizes how he got to where he is in the sport.
Let’s go over some of his recent history. First, the guy is killing everyone on the bike, finishing 2nd in the Giro, behind Contador, and then going to the Tour and winning a couple stages etc. But, alas, he get’s popped for using CERA-EPO. So, he serves his ban and makes his comeback. But, once again, he has issues.
Next thing he knows, he’s in an emergency room because he botched up a home blood transfusion and he nearly kills himself.
So, he goes and makes a ton of excuses and denials, but ultimately he gets a 12 year ban for a 2nd doping offense.
So, he won’t be able to race again until he is 40. So he decides that he is going to travel around the planet and set records on all the most famous climbs. So, in preparation for this, he is caught trying to buy EPO, that was stolen from a hospital, in a parking lot in Italy. He said that “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, the matter has nothing to do with me.” Even though he had $1500 in his jacket pocket at the time.
So, he somehow stays out of jail, but keeps training and writes a book. For some inexplicable reason, his publisher lets him speak at a book launch. Maybe the publisher is brilliant because he knows Riccardo.
Anyway, he talks about testifying to the UCI commission on doping for 7 hours. He said he gave “first and last” names of guys still involved in the sport that are involved in doping. Wow, last names too? And then after, called the commission a “joke” because they won’t half his suspension.
He did talk about racing and how he thinks it’s impossible to win a Grand Tour without doping. And how everyone knew Ullrich was a better athlete than Lance, but Lance had better drugs and Jan couldn’t control his lifestyle.
His last statement is beautiful. It doesn’t even need a comment.
“I wouldn’t make the same mistakes that I made. I wouldn’t dope, or I’d at least do it differently.”
Along the same lines -
These Italian guys are pretty unlucky, or just stupid, at least compared to the American guys that were “caught”. Mauro Santambrogio was serving a 18 month suspension for EPO use. His suspension was supposed to expire on November 2, 2014, but on October 22, he turned up positive for testosterone in an out of competition test.
Guess he’s gonna be sitting out a while longer. Maybe he can join Riccardo on his climbing record attempt extravaganza? They would make a great couple.
Comments (32)
Paul Willerton
2014-12-18 11:09:38
I didn’t know the story of Ricco kept going, this way. This is actually an amazing cycling story. It has a lot of sadness in it, not only from idiocy and greed, but this inability to let go and face reality. Why is it that the doping mentality has such a hard time facing reality?
Bill V
2014-12-18 11:18:16
I see him and Mauro Santambrogio on the same level as heroin or meth addicts.
Jeff M
2014-12-18 11:51:05
Ricco epitomizes the bicycle racer wannabe. He’s definitely a “case in point”. Stupid bastard…
Pepsi Frank
2014-12-18 12:37:23
“I kind of expected to hear a little bit about it. But I mean, at the end of the day I just felt that it wasn’t really fair that we can go to George Hincapie’s gran fondo, we accept that Christian Vande Velde can be our commentator, I give interviews to Frankie Andreu, but Lance is the evil guy, and I just don’t see how there can be that double standard.” Tejay van Garderen on motorpacing with Lance Armstrong They call it dope because that’s what it turns you into.
John R
2014-12-18 12:40:22 In reply to Bill V
BillV, are you just a moron? Ask any meth or heroin addict. They are not even remotely comparable.
John R
2014-12-18 12:44:58
Tejay said that with a big dose of sarcasm and irony. It was actually a very intelligent and thoughtful comment by Van Garderen.
Terri Thater
2014-12-18 12:51:48
Hmmmmm… Santambrogio was on BMC in 2011 and helped Cadel Evans win the Tour. A week before the Tour, a BMC soigneur was busted for having 200 doses of EPO on him two years beforehand. But that same guy worked with BMC as recently as the one-day Giro della Toscana in Italy on June 19 - less than three weeks before the Tour. Santambrogio, who was twice suspended by BMC for his being in the Italian Mantova doping investigation, finished second at that race to Garmin-Cervélo’s Daniel Martin. Read more at http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/06/news/part-time-bmc-soigneur-arrested-in-doping-investigation_180704#qzdjMid7BYOHRvAD.99
Jeff Butterfield
2014-12-18 13:06:50
Ricco, the Goober Pyle of pro cycling, minus the endearing qualities.
Bill V
2014-12-18 13:47:56 In reply to John R
To clarify, they’re addicts from what I can tell. Ricco has no need to take EPO and neither does Mauro. They may have a psychological dependance on doping similar to other types of drug addicts. Taking these substances during their bans is an example of their extremely bad decision making skills and what do they have to gain doing these drugs while serving bans? The whole thing is beyond stupid and maybe into the realm of some form of addiction.
JV
2014-12-18 13:51:20 In reply to Terri Thater
No talking about BMC!
Ron
2014-12-18 14:00:12
I’m not at all a fan of Cadel, but I will say that the year he won the tour was the most realistic looking tour that I have seen in years.
H Luce
2014-12-18 16:28:05
They’re not idiots or morons, they’re criminals. If they were racing in Germany doing this stuff, they’d be doing time, now that Germany is about to criminalize doping. Perhaps other countries should consider doing the same thing. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/30007100 - " Germany is set to make doping in sport a crime for the first time, with jail terms of up to three years for athletes found guilty. The draft is scheduled to be presented by ministers on Wednesday with the law going before parliament in spring 2015. About 7,000 German professional athletes who are covered by the national testing program will be affected by the new law. Foreign athletes caught doping in Germany would also risk prison."
Bill K
2014-12-18 16:31:11
What does this say about his team, if he had to do al his doping “on the cheap”. Why wasn’t his team helping him break the rules???? . Third rate team????? ..
jpete
2014-12-18 17:04:06
Looks like it is super easy and cheap to do EPO- Where do most pros do winter base camps in the US? down by the border? hmmmmm. read the comments: http://www.eroids.com/forum/hgh-peptides/rhgh/erythropoietin-epo-for-beginners
Levi
2014-12-18 18:11:32
Just curious. Can anyone name 10 cyclists that are at least half way famous, that haven’t been suspended or implicated in some sort of doping ring?
Robert
2014-12-18 18:28:14 In reply to Levi
Possibly, if I go back to the 1920’s.
Mike Rodose
2014-12-18 18:55:02 In reply to jpete
For USA riders, HgH, EPO, Testo are all legal and available for immediate purchase, just a few minutes from border-states. “Vacationing in Mexico”. But the Mexican EPO will remove all the hair on your head.
JBV
2014-12-18 19:33:59 In reply to Levi
Alex Howes, Tejay Van Garderen, Taylor Phinney, Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans, Andrew Talansky, Dan Martin, Marcel Kittel, John Degenkolb, Tony Martin.
The Instigator
2014-12-18 21:55:45 In reply to Jeff Butterfield
Gomer Pyle
donkybhoy
2014-12-19 06:37:31 In reply to JBV
Evans linked to Ferrari via Tony Rominger his manager. Phinney trains with Allen Lim who aided Landis doping. Tony Martin’s team doc is Ibauguren. Wiggins aint clean, went from Gruppetto fodder to podiums! Dan Martin clean, nope. How does a clean rider win a monument against dopers?
John Parker
2014-12-19 07:54:38
All the doping talk aside the dude called himself the cobra snake I mean how rad is that?
Dog
2014-12-19 09:27:30 In reply to jpete
I read that article and then the comments below. Who in their right mind would listen to such a random collection of fucktards (as far as getting sourcing and dosage advice)? I wouldn’t look to those guys for advice on how to change the window motor on my car!
Jim Ochowicz
2014-12-19 10:20:47 In reply to The Instigator
I’ve always made his check out to “Goober” Ricco What a talent, when he serves his suspension I will definitely hire him
Jim Ochowicz
2014-12-19 10:28:59 In reply to John Parker
Cobra Kai Never Dies! and don’t forget to sweep the leg
California Master
2014-12-19 11:13:10 In reply to JBV
Good answer but Howes should not be on the list. Only reason anyone knows him is because of those tv interviews he gave…where he looked like an entitled idiot.
Richard Hardmann
2014-12-19 11:20:35 In reply to John Parker
Here’s some Pro Tour trivia for you- Word is that the nickname comes from his personal experience of having a large portion of his skin peel away after getting hold of a bad batch.
Pigman the barbarian
2014-12-19 11:55:49 In reply to JBV
JBV- don’t feel insulted by these crazy people making weird proclamations. “He beat people who we think are dopers because they’re good so he must also be a doper” isn’t that great an argument.
jpete
2014-12-19 12:12:33 In reply to Dog
Completely agree. Same mentality as having high school dropouts making meth, and people buy that crap and put it in their bodies. The whole point is not whether or not a sane person would, but clearly it illustrates that people do have easy access to it, and are doing it unsupervised. And it is cheap. And if you are a pro team based in the desert southwest in the winter, or local hero from the area you are also aware of the ease of getting it without detection.
Bolas Azules
2014-12-19 12:50:32
With Taylor Phinney you can even go back a generation…we now know the benefits of doping can last years and years after the riders ‘come clean’ but can the benefits be passed along? Dad, Och, Neel, Hayman, 7-Eleven the original Den of Thieves. Quite a legacy.
Jeff Butterfield
2014-12-19 16:48:34 In reply to The Instigator
Goober was Gomer’s cousin. Gomer had a bit too much on the ball to be compared to Ricco.
Mr. De Facto
2014-12-20 08:18:26 In reply to jpete
Awesome!
Jt
2014-12-20 16:27:21
The original ‘Cobra’ was Pittsburg Porate Dave Parker. Suck it Ricco! :)