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Happy birthday Riccardo Riccò!

Riccardo_Ricco22

One of my favourite cyclists who, remarkably, is still alive.

"On the 6th of February in 2011, Riccò was rushed to hospital. He was in critical condition with acute kidney failure believed to have been caused by a non-medical autologous transfusion (ie, using his own blood) performed using blood that was 25 days old and had presumably been incorrectly stored, which he is alleged to have admitted to the doctor who treated him (in other words, he - allegedly! - injected himself with three-and-a-half-week-old blood which hadn't been kept in a fridge). He could very easily have died, but fortunately recovered well enough to be discharged after only two weeks. His team Vacansoleil sacked him, though he insisted that he had neither made the alleged admission to the doctor nor ever used blood doping (in October that year, reports were published that he had admitted it; these were quickly denied by his lawyer). He also claimed that he would be retiring from cycling and began a new life working in a bar, but later announced that he would make a return to professional cycling. According to reports, Team Amore & Vita offered him a contract with the conditions that he worked with the Italian authorities to help end doping in sport and that he would be sacked if proof arose that he had in fact received an illegal transfusion - if such a contract was offered, he refused it and instead signed to Meridiana-Kamen. He was expected to make his return to racing with them at the Kroz Srbiju, beginning on the 19th of June; however, eight days before the race began CONI suspended him and launched an investigation. On the 19th of April 2012, the Tribunale Nazionale Antidoping found him guilty of the use and attempted use of prohibited methods and banned him from any involvement in professional cycling for a period of 12 years."

Top bloke.

Published by John Techno at 1:30am on Thu 1st September 2016. Viewed 4,718 times.
This topic has been edited, last edit at 2:03am on Thu 1st September 2016.

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