Police in Italy arrest pro cyclist & others

[theswordsman]

That part of the sentence refers to the 35 suspects, other than the arrested five, among them 6 professional cyclists and 15 amateur riders, reported still at large.

Thanks. It was the "still at large" part that had me wondering. If they did 40 searches, are we to believe they found something at all of them and they're still rounding people up? Are 6 more pros about to get busted? I'll stay tuned.

 

[python]

1st english language report

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/5...-professionals-amongst-35-facing-charges.aspx

 

[El Imbatido]

1st english language report

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/5...-professionals-amongst-35-facing-charges.aspx

I really liked this part:

Codenamed Cobra-Red, the operation is based on raids carried out this morning by the Italian doping police NAS.............Riccò broke up with her as a result of the positive A sample, saying he didn’t want it to affect his career. He competed with the Ceramica Flaminia team until August of this year, then signed a two year deal with Vacansoleil. Cobra is his nickname but while this corresponds with the name of the anti-doping operation, it is has not been revealed if this is purely coincidental.

Operation Cobra-Red Maybe they are trying to catch the Cobra red handed???

 

[theswordsman]

It wasn't a sportswriter, but the story is only a paragraph so I'm not posting it. Again, if someone who has Italian would please help us out with the details? Thanks

http://www.tuttobiciweb.it/index.php?page=news&cod=32867&tp=n

 

[JPM London]

I expect Peter Sellars to walk in any moment.

or the Spanish Inquisition!

recently it became illegal to buy anything in italy and not to receive a receipt and if you did not get one the law states you must ask for one.

What!!! Must make a hell of cafe receipts in all the small Italian homes...
Well, let's hope the kept all the receipts for EPO/CERA/etc... Wonder what is worst: Being busted for dope? Or being busted for not having the receipts for said dope?

I understand from the article in Gazzetta that Enrico Rossi will have problems squirming out of this one; he was in (possession of) a hypobaric tent, for simulation of high-altitude training. Such tents are outlawed in Italy.

...

And the name of the police-operation was "Cobra-Red"!!!! Hilarious!

Wow, I thought the tents were perfectly legal in most places - or am I just wrong on that one?

Cobra-Red is just too good to be true!

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

"rossi" is of course Italian for "red".

Also we understand that Ricco and Vania Rossi were back together again.

Susan

 

[theswordsman]

The articles I saw said that it's a hypoxic tent, if that makes a difference. A really quick Google just told me that means it's low pressure, FWIW.

 

[Moncoutie]

This is crazy!

 

[JRTinMA]

CW story names R Ricco.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/500313/ricco-faces-second-doping-investigation.html

 

[thehog]

CW story names R Ricco.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/500313/ricco-faces-second-doping-investigation.html

Was Lance involved? I bet he was.

 

[theswordsman]

CW story names R Ricco.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/500313/ricco-faces-second-doping-investigation.html

I saw that on twitter, but they have the same information we do, so I think they're jumping the gun a bit. He could be one of the six, but I'd have let the Italian police do their job first.

 

[Barrus]

CW story names R Ricco.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/500313/ricco-faces-second-doping-investigation.html

Terrible journalism. They have no reason to name Ricco other than mere conjecture. That this happens on an internet forum is normal, but as a journalistic source, that is just shameful

 

[Roland Rat]

CW story names R Ricco.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/500313/ricco-faces-second-doping-investigation.html

I wouldn't get excited about Ricco just yet, wait until he's confirmed by a reliable source. There's a reason Cycling Weekly is known as "the comic".

 

[JRTinMA]

I saw that on twitter, but they have the same information we do, so I think they're jumping the gun a bit. He could be one of the six, but I'd have let the Italian police do their job first.

I thought maybe they got confused by so many Ricco's and Rossi's but they seem to imply R Ricco is involved. Not a shred of a fact offered to back it up but I guess that's the state of cycling.

 

[Berzin]

The cyclist arrested was Enrico Rossi, brother of Vania and brother-in-law (so to speak) of Riccardo Ricco.

Susan

You know what they say about doping-if you can't keep it in the syringe, keep it in the family.

Italians are so family oriented that even doping is a family affair.

I would love to be a fly on the antipasto during those Sunday dinners at the Ricco and Basso households.

 

[theswordsman]

I thought maybe they got confused by so many Ricco's and Rossi's but they seem to imply R Ricco is involved. Not a shred of a fact offered to back it up but I guess that's the state of cycling.

Yeah. I keep checking for updates on Tuttobiciweb and La Gazzetta dello Sport, which is probably what they're doing. Seeing the name Cobra and projecting it to a lifetime ban as part of a second investigation is a reach.

If anyone who reads Italian happens by, could you please scroll back to a link I posted and tell us exactly what the paragraph says? Thanks

Fresh from La Gazzetta:

I sequestri — Rossi sarebbe in codice "red". Professionista della Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini, che però risulta estranea alla vicenda, era in pratica - secondo la ricostruzione - l’uomo che raccoglieva le sostanze dopanti dai tre canali di approvigionamento scoperti dai carabinieri e che hanno portato all’arresto di Nicolas Sanchez Vanegas, ex corridore colombiano e collaboratore di alcune riviste ciclistiche online, del cicloamatore Giorgio Galli, dell’infermiera Chiara Ferri, dipendente di un ospedale romano e del farmacista Leonardo Scorpiniti. Stamattina, l’ultimo arresto, in "flagranza di reato", è stato quello di Davide Paganuzzi, un altro cicloamatore, presso cui è stato rintracciata "una cospicua quantità di dopanti".

Kidnapping - Rossi would be coded "red." Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini professional, but is unrelated to the story, was in practice - the second Reconstruction - the man who picked up the doping by the three channels of procurement discovered by police and led to the arrest of Nicolas Sanchez Vanegas, Former Colombian rider and assistant to some cycling online magazines, the amateur cyclist Giorgio Galli, Chiara Ferri nurse, employee of a hospital pharmacist and Roman Leonardo Scorpiniti. This morning, the last stop in "flagrante delicto", was one of David Paganuzzi, another amateur cyclist, at which it was traced to "a large amount of doping."

http://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/21-09-2010/doping-operazione-nas-711202751426.shtml

 

[Barrus]

I thought maybe they got confused by so many Ricco's and Rossi's but they seem to imply R Ricco is involved. Not a shred of a fact offered to back it up but I guess that's the state of cycling.

No, that's the state of journalism, this has nothing to do with cycling, just generally bad fact checking and trying to get hits on their site for ad revenue. Quite shameful really

 

[theswordsman]

Updated totals from La Gazzetta (see previous link). The 35 still not arrested/named include:
6 pro cyclists
15 amateur cyclists
2 pharmacists
1 fitness trainer
1 sports doctor
4 gym patrons

Police are sorting through the stuff they gathered in the raids

 

[rhubroma]

This is epic! How ****ed up is Ricco and his family

No more f'ed-up than just about any other professional cycling family. Thing is, Ricco is not stupid, just brazen. And this seems to have been his Achilles Heel.

He has become the target of "excessive" attention within the governing body of cycling, both at home and internationally, for getting caught for something many of his colleagues have also done (caught or not), because he doesn't make the same scripted statements nor portray that model school-boy image that the governors want from those who have been given a second chance. To put it simply, he's politically incorrect and a "bad" image for the sport. He's made enemies within the sport, that's for sure.

It will be interesting to see how he responds to this one.

By contrast look at Basso's sister. But he came away from it unscathed. Will Ricco be treated by the press in a similar fashion?

 

[theswordsman]

La Gazzetta dello Sport keeps rewriting the one story at the same link.

L’operazione Cobra-Red condotta dai carabinieri dei Nas di Perugia è stata illustrata questa mattina a Roma dal capitano Marco Vetrulli e dal colonnello Pier Luigi Felli: sei arresti, 35 persone denunciate a piede libero, 40 perquisizioni effettuate all’alba in 11 province da 150 carabinieri, una montagna di prodotti sequestrati, dagli anabolizzanti all’epo di diverse generazioni

Operation Cobra Red conduct by the police in Perugia Nas was illustrated this morning in Rome by Captain Mark Vetrulli and Col. Pierluigi Felli, six arrests, 35 people reported on the loose, 40 dawn raids carried out in 11 provinces of 150 policemen, a mountain of goods seized by anabolic EPO several generations...

http://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/21-09-2010/doping-operazione-nas-711202751426.shtml

 

[Michele]

For the fans out there, Im already preparing some t-shirts

 

[sartain]

this is just business to them. they don't see it any other terms, they know they have to avoid the authorities, but that goes for lots of italian society. recently it became illegal to buy anything in italy and not to receive a receipt and if you did not get one the law states you must ask for one. to combat the black market selling that goes on and tax evasion.

I have spent some time there . . . outstanding food and wine and they still do leather the right way. What else can I say that paints a rosy picture . . . I'll get back with you.

 

[rhubroma]

La Gazzetta dello Sport keeps rewriting the one story at the same link.



http://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/21-09-2010/doping-operazione-nas-711202751426.shtml

Operazione Cobra-Red. Brilliant! That sums up, symbolically, the two important moments in contemporary Italian cycling: Ricco's return and Nibali's Vuelta success.

 

[Jamsque]

No more f'ed-up than just about any other professional cycling family. Thing is, Ricco is not stupid, just brazen. And this seems to have been his Achilles Heel.

He has become the target of "excessive" attention within the governing body of cycling, both at home and internationally, for getting caught for something many of his colleagues have also done (caught or not), because he doesn't make the same scripted statements nor portray that model school-boy image that the governors want from those who have been given a second chance. To put it simply, he's politically incorrect and a "bad" image for the sport. He's made enemies within the sport, that's for sure.

It will be interesting to see how he responds to this one.

By contrast look at Basso's sister. But he came away from it unscathed. Will Ricco be treated by the press in a similar fashion?

I disagree. I think Ricco is stupid.

The nickname of this operation is either a very odd coincidence or a clear indication of who the main target of the investigation is.

 

[hektoren]

I'm quite impressed: 40 dawn raids, 150 policemen in 11 provinces, a police captain, a colonel, a mountain of confiscated PED's, steroids, EPO from various generations and a hypoxic tent. What a film you could make! "My name is Cobra. Red Cobra". (With Gollum as Riccó, Angelina Jolie as Vania Rossi, Enrico Rossi as himself). Que Cera, Cera.....