Anyone buying Ricco's redemption?

[laziali]

Sounds a bit contrived but then I do love a true redemption story so I hope it's legit.

 

[VeloFidelis]

Sounds a bit contrived but then I do love a true redemption story so I hope it's legit.

The only thing that has changed is that he finally has a savvy PR agent.

 

[roundabout]

Goodbye Cobra, hello the Worm?

 

[BotanyBay]

Sounds a bit contrived but then I do love a true redemption story so I hope it's legit.

We shall wait and see. It's on him.

 

[flatclimb]

Good for him, I hope he rides well next season.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Not buying it until he has ridden a good number of races with no +ives. Still, I hope he does well... cleanly.

 

[Siriuscat]

Nah he's slime, he'll get pinged again

 

[python]

one very accomplished pro rider, eki, from one of the slimiest teams the sport has ever seen (discovery) called ricco a slime ball (using informal translation).

me ? i'm willing to give him an opportunity to prove himself but expect anything.

one thing that would help his public image would be if he did what basso has done - publish both his performance and blood profiles including the results of the total hg tests.

so far - none.

 

[tubularglue]

no,

what do you get when you sober up a drunk horse thief ?


answer: a sober horse thief

 

[Fourier]

Let's see next year's results first

 

[L29205]

I agree with the wait and see approach based on the next couple of years results. It would be nice if he cleaned up but you have to keep his past in mind.

 

[theswordsman]

I do. It's obviously not a PR scheme, as it wasn't even his idea. Aldo Sassi spoke to smeone, during the New Pathways Conference if I remember correctly. He said that Ricco was a great climber and that he'd like to work with him to help him down the right path (my words). It made the papers, Ricco heard about it and made the call.

Sassi has been told that his life expectancy is roughly next year's Tour de France. He calls working with Ricco his last big gamble. A lot of cycling is against Ricco, to have a top,, respected coach saying he'd like to use part of the last months of his life working with him is kind of huge.

Ricco is on Vacansoleil, who should be invited to all three grand tours next year. He's now got the same coach that heped Cadel win Worlds and Basso win the Giro. There's no way he cheats during the next eight months, especially with Mapei monitoring everything. If he has a strong first half of the year clean, he has a chance.

For the record, I hated him when he was racing against Contador at the Giro, just based on personality. So this is pretty much his first chance ever for me to say something positive about him. I still don't know if I'm following the sport next year, but I believe redemption is possible, and applaud Sassi reaching out to him when he could work with any rider.

 

[Anonymous]

No................

 

[Marcus135]

I dont think he will dope again. Hopefully he has matured.

 

[hrotha]

I don't think he'll use an over-the-top doping program and rub it on everyone's faces again.

 

[laziali]

one very accomplished pro rider, eki, from one of the slimiest teams the sport has ever seen (discovery) called ricco a slime ball (using informal translation).

me ? i'm willing to give him an opportunity to prove himself but expect anything.

one thing that would help his public image would be if he did what basso has done - publish both his performance and blood profiles including the results of the total hg tests.

so far - none.

Is Basso clean now? Always thought Cunego was a good example of a former doper riding clean

 

[JPM London]

I do. It's obviously not a PR scheme, as it wasn't even his idea. Aldo Sassi spoke to smeone, during the New Pathways Conference if I remember correctly. He said that Ricco was a great climber and that he'd like to work with him to help him down the right path (my words). It made the papers, Ricco heard about it and made the call.

Sassi has been told that his life expectancy is roughly next year's Tour de France. He calls working with Ricco his last big gamble. A lot of cycling is against Ricco, to have a top,, respected coach saying he'd like to use part of the last months of his life working with him is kind of huge.

Ricco is on Vacansoleil, who should be invited to all three grand tours next year. He's now got the same coach that heped Cadel win Worlds and Basso win the Giro. There's no way he cheats during the next eight months, especially with Mapei monitoring everything. If he has a strong first half of the year clean, he has a chance.

For the record, I hated him when he was racing against Contador at the Giro, just based on personality. So this is pretty much his first chance ever for me to say something positive about him. I still don't know if I'm following the sport next year, but I believe redemption is possible, and applaud Sassi reaching out to him when he could work with any rider.

Agree completely! Also when you read the article it's quite clear his initial ambitions are a lot less than they would otherwise have been. The whole "goodbye to the Cobra" thing to me sounds like a genuine goodbye to his old ways - and those ways are no doubt older than his positive test although he still plays that card, but let's not split hairs...