Pro Rider reaction to Ricco news

[BMXBandit]

It really is disgusting.

@RobbieHunter: How can a person like this ever show his face in public again!!!
- WTF does this mean? I suppose he can also sit through a team meeting with a straight face and not think whether the FEDS or CONI are going to bust through the window in ski masks telling everyone to "Hit the Deck" and shout "we are here for your boss!"

@chritianVDV: Good bike practice today in Mallorca. Very happy with the form and the the team. However, I just read about Ricco. #speechless #goodriddance
- Really are you speechless? about what? that he makes you all look bad because he got caught?

for me, very few have the moral high ground to go kicking people while they are down. And I include some of the young pro's who have come out bad mouthing Ricco - why not look closer to home at some of your own team mates who have had checkered pasts and who you respect as "good guys" with lots to teach you!

All this double speak feeds into the same disgusting pool that the UCI swim in.

 

[El Pistolero]

It's inferred not implicit.

A joke in bad taste? Sure. But willing death? No.

Trust me if he was a politician saying that to another politician who had an illness or something he'd be fired from his political party and shunned by the world. Why? Because everyone would see it as someone wanting someone else to die?

Do you need proof?

In Belgium a politician said "open the champagne already" on his Facebook on the day that the news broke out that another politician her(Morel is her name) cancer got worse(he hated her). The politician in question was fired right away even if it wasn't sure why he said what he said(could easily refer to something else).

Rip Morel. She died today of her cancer.

 

[Mambo95]

Trust me if he was a politician saying that to another politician who had an illness or something he'd be fired from his political party and shunned by the world. Why? Because everyone would see it as someone wanting someone else to die?

Do you need proof?

In Belgium a politician said "open the champagne already" on his Facebook on the day that the news broke out that another politician her(Morel is her name) cancer got worse(he hated her). The politician in question was fired right away even if it wasn't sure why he said what he said(could easily refer to something else).

Rip Morel. She died today of her cancer.

I don't see this Myerson fellow making any celebratory comments. Just a bad joke. Besides, Ricco was never at death's door, while Morel was clearly dying.

Basically, you've attacked someone for making a bad joke because he hasn't slagged off Armstrong (you brought his name into this).

Inferred comment, not implied.

 

[Oldman]

Classless people exist in every walk of life. In fact, holding up Bob Roll as an example of self serving crassness is like holding up a steaming t*rd and saying "this stinks". You don't expect anything else.
As many have pointed out what is missing is a meaningful response toward Contador and other high profile guys. Ricco is unpopular because he upset the status quo and then talked about it.
I'm liking the amateur life more and more.

 

[BMXBandit]

To be fair - whether one or many riders make inappropriate jokes is not the point. The point is, that they see fit to comment on this case and make no comments on any others - principally because they know that they are swimming with the tide when they kick Ricco when he is down.

How many came out with witty jokes in relation to "Steak" in the past 2 months?

 

[El Pistolero]

To be fair - whether one or many riders make inappropriate jokes is not the point. The point is, that they see fit to comment on this case and make no comments on any others - principally because they know that they are swimming with the tide when they kick Ricco when he is down.

How many came out with witty jokes in relation to "Steak" in the past 2 months?

Manuel Quinziato

manuelquinziato Manuel Quinziato
Just read that the substance found in Contador's samples is a value 40 times below the limits of the antidoping rules!

manuelquinziato Manuel Quinziato
Goodbye Riccardo! We won't miss you!

--

Talk about double standards. Another douche.

 

[M Sport]

I would like to see every Tweet and collect them. Can you please post URL's here? Thanks, Bb.

Greghenderson1 Greg Henderson
Catchya Ricco. You'll be missed. Like a hole in the head.

Ok, fair enough, Henderson could be one of the clean ones. But big call coming from a team mate of Wigans. And it's a bit tasteless anyway.

 

[hrotha]

To be fair - whether one or many riders make inappropriate jokes is not the point. The point is, that they see fit to comment on this case and make no comments on any others - principally because they know that they are swimming with the tide when they kick Ricco when he is down.

How many came out with witty jokes in relation to "Steak" in the past 2 months?

Plenty did, actually. Jokes are not the problem here - although no one should joke about Riccò's condition, if it was critical as was reported. The problem is no one went beyond ultimately harmless jokes.

 

[Sanitiser]

This is Office Politics 101, talking **** about easy targets occurs everywhere except instead of twitter, 'normal' people use facebook.

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

To be fair - whether one or many riders make inappropriate jokes is not the point. The point is, that they see fit to comment on this case and make no comments on any others - principally because they know that they are swimming with the tide when they kick Ricco when he is down.

How many came out with witty jokes in relation to "Steak" in the past 2 months?

Nicely said.

As to the 'steak' jokes... Not sure of the riders' jokes (although there seemed to be a code of silence about it, which makes the Ricco sh*t all the more questionable), but it was WAY too thick with them here.

"Aldirto Clentador" may have won (who did that one?).

 

[El Pistolero]

Nicely said.

As to the 'steak' jokes... Not sure of the riders' jokes (although there seemed to be a code of silence about it, which makes the Ricco sh*t all the more questionable), but it was WAY too thick with them here.

"Aldirto Clentador" may have won (who did that one?).

Altitude did that one.

 

[ansimi]

Seriously low to talk that way about somebody who's in the hospital and facing long-term health consequences. Even if they were squeaky clean themselves and attacked all dopers I'd think it was really low.

 

[unsheath]

As usual Marco is all class...

Marco Pinotti
Beware of who says "I'm a new man", at his convenience

 

[Race Radio]

Adam comment is hard to defend....but at least he is consistent. It is not like he attacks Ricco but rides for Brunyeel, Riis, Lefevre. He is rather vocal about toe wide variety of questionable characters the sport attracts.

Bobke on the other had is his normal idiot self.

 

[adammyerson]

Hey everyone,

I'm right here, you know? I can hear you. I'm a real person, not a famous pro bike racer who thinks he's so good he keeps his distance from the unwashed masses like some kind of rock star. When I post, I use my real name.

The point of the tweet is that there should be more agressive lifetime bans, and Ricco is likely going to get one if this story is true. What I was speaking to is the absolute stupidity, and criminality, of this kind of behavior. If someone is willing to nearly kill themselves doping, they're going to end up out of the sport, one way or the other. I didn't wish anyone death. I was commenting on someone's willingness to kill themselves doping.

Tasteless? Maybe. But honestly, are you going to sit here and defend Ricco in the name good taste? Like he deserves our respect simply because he's ill, when the illness was caused by his own illegal behavior? What would Aldo Sassi say right now?

Further, I'm no hypocrite. Follow me on Twitter or Facebook if you like. You'll hear the consistency of my message. I made the choice to race clean many, many years ago. If you want to call that "hiding" by racing domestically, fair enough. I'm only as good as I am, and I don't pretend to be better than that. Nor I do have an desire to cheat to get to the next level, since that's what it would take for me to get there.

For the few that seemed to get it, and who defended me here, I appreciate it. For those who think that calling comments "***" or wishing I had been more seriously injured when I was assaulted is fair play, well, I think you're leading the way in hypocrisy here.

The only way doping culture in pro cycling ends is when the riders themselves end it by speaking out against it. It's up to the riders to change the culture. No one else is capable of getting it done. Not the UCI, not the teams, not the police. The riders themselves are the ones who need to want it to change, and who need to reverse the omerta.

You can call me self-righteous. But I walk the walk, and will continue to do so, because I love and care about bike racing. More than I care about Ricardo Ricco.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone,

I'm right here, you know? I can hear you. I'm a real person, not a famous pro bike racer who thinks he's so good he keeps his distance from the unwashed masses like some kind of rock star. When I post, I use my real name.

The point of the tweet is that there should be more agressive lifetime bans, and Ricco is likely going to get one if this story is true. What I was speaking to is the absolute stupidity, and criminality, of this kind of behavior. If someone is willing to nearly kill themselves doping, they're going to end up out of the sport, one way or the other. I didn't wish anyone death. I was commenting on someone's willingness to kill themselves doping.

Tasteless? Maybe. But honestly, are you going to sit here and defend Ricco in the name good taste? Like he deserves our respect simply because he's ill, when the illness was caused by his own illegal behavior? What would Aldo Sassi say right now?

Further, I'm no hypocrite. Follow me on Twitter or Facebook if you like. You'll hear the consistency of my message. I made the choice to race clean many, many years ago. If you want to call that "hiding" by racing domestically, fair enough. I'm only as good as I am, and I don't pretend to be better than that. Nor I do have an desire to cheat to get to the next level, since that's what it would take for me to get there.

For the few that seemed to get it, and who defended me here, I appreciate it. For those who think that calling comments "***" or wishing I had been more seriously injured when I was assaulted is fair play, well, I think you're leading the way in hypocrisy here.

The only way doping culture in pro cycling ends is when the riders themselves end it by speaking out against it. It's up to the riders to change the culture. No one else is capable of getting it done. Not the UCI, not the teams, not the police. The riders themselves are the ones who need to want it to change, and who need to reverse the omerta.

You can call me self-righteous. But I walk the walk, and will continue to do so, because I love and care about bike racing. More than I care about Ricardo Ricco.

Welcome Adam.

This place can be rough... however most here just love cycling and are appalled (and jaded) as to what is happening amongst the biggest names in pro cycling and to pro cycling itself (are you listening, UCI/McQuaid??).

Speaking for me, I would like to see cycling return to more of the 'olympic spirit', but am afraid that this is such a naive desire that it really borders on sheer stupidity.

World peace seems more achievable.

 

[Sanitiser]

Tasteless? Maybe. But honestly, are you going to sit here and defend Ricco in the name good taste? Like he deserves our respect simply because he's ill, when the illness was caused by his own illegal behavior? What would Aldo Sassi say right now?

Hate the sin, love the sinner. And the sin isn't that big in the wide scheme of things.

 

[Merckx index]

Hate the sin, love the sinner. And the sin isn't that big in the wide scheme of things.

Very well put.

I assume one reason Ricco is the subject of so much piling on is because of his reputation as a pr-ck. If Basso or DiLuca were in this situation, I find it hard to imagine there would be so much hate focussed on them.

On the other hand, it has to be more than that. I can think of another rider or former rider who probably matches Ricco in the pr-ck department, and I'm quite sure he wouldn't receive this kind of treatment. No, not even from members of this forum.

So what is it about Ricco? Personally, I always found his attitude kind of refreshing. When he got busted after that Giro, instead of denying, IIRC, he bit the bullet. At least, he confessed eventually. Have Basso or DiLuca ever done as much?

P.S. - Adam, since you said your message is consistent, you must have been very busy trashing Vino a couple of years ago. I hope so, at any rate. Speaking of which, are any of these pro rider tweeters saying they wish good riddance to Vino, too? If not, why not?

 

[BroDeal]

The only way doping culture in pro cycling ends is when the riders themselves end it by speaking out against it. It's up to the riders to change the culture. No one else is capable of getting it done. Not the UCI, not the teams, not the police. The riders themselves are the ones who need to want it to change, and who need to reverse the omerta.

That is the problem. We do not see this as an example of riders speaking out. It is a giant exercise in hypocrisy and another example scapegoatism. Wigans was recently criticized here for the same thing. He was badmouthing FLandis and Ricco while he could barely keep himself in his pants when talking about Armstrong. Bob Roll's comments are especially galling since he spent the last dozen years tossing Armstrong's salad at every opportunity. When the disiked Ricco Fs up and nearly kills himself, the mob rises up and Walmart sells out of pitchforks and hoes. Yet barely a peep about Contador. Instead the pros have more important things on their minds, like whether they can use earpieces. It looks like the pro peloton dogpiling on someone who is personally disliked under the guise of speaking out about doping.

 

[Berzin]

The point of the tweet is that there should be more aggressive lifetime bans, and Ricco is likely going to get one if this story is true. What I was speaking to is the absolute stupidity, and criminality, of this kind of behavior. If someone is willing to nearly kill themselves doping, they're going to end up out of the sport, one way or the other. I didn't wish anyone death. I was commenting on someone's willingness to kill themselves doping.

He wasn't willing to kill himself doping. His mindset was more like "I'm doing what everyone else is doing". And he should know, much more than you what the current state of doping in the European pro peloton is.

Tasteless? Maybe. But honestly, are you going to sit here and defend Ricco in the name good taste? Like he deserves our respect simply because he's ill, when the illness was caused by his own illegal behavior? What would Aldo Sassi say right now?

Aldo Sassi is dead. And if you know anything about the type of doping he's been involved with in the past, maybe it would lead you to make a more educated presumption.

Further, I'm no hypocrite. Follow me on Twitter or Facebook if you like. You'll hear the consistency of my message. I made the choice to race clean many, many years ago. If you want to call that "hiding" by racing domestically, fair enough. I'm only as good as I am, and I don't pretend to be better than that. Nor I do have an desire to cheat to get to the next level, since that's what it would take for me to get there.

You may or may not be a hypocrite, but you certainly are full of it. Where was all this outrage when the Federal investigation into Lance Armstrong was announced?

For the few that seemed to get it, and who defended me here, I appreciate it. For those who think that calling comments "***" or wishing I had been more seriously injured when I was assaulted is fair play, well, I think you're leading the way in hypocrisy here.

It's not hypocrisy, it's just answering one totally *** response with an equally *** and insensitive retort.

The only way doping culture in pro cycling ends is when the riders themselves end it by speaking out against it. It's up to the riders to change the culture. No one else is capable of getting it done. Not the UCI, not the teams, not the police. The riders themselves are the ones who need to want it to change, and who need to reverse the omerta.

How do you reverse omerta by taking shots at a guy like Ricco? How is that in any way taking a stand? You're a coward and a bandwagon hopper by singling out Ricco and keeping quiet about others who are much more influential who are accused of doing much much worse.

You can call me self-righteous. But I walk the walk, and will continue to do so, because I love and care about bike racing. More than I care about Ricardo Ricco.

Humility in light of this man's pending problems would be more becoming, actually. But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?

 

[unsheath]

Adam, you've been a member for a while. You should post more.

The wording of your tweet was open to misinterpretation. Its hardly surprising the vultures have called you out.

 

[131313]

How do you reverse omerta by taking shots at a guy like Ricco? How is that in any way taking a stand? You're a coward and a bandwagon hopper by singling out Ricco and keeping quiet about others who are much more influential who are accused of doing much much worse.

I'm no huge fan of this Myerson guy. He seems to have some aggression issues which seem to manifest themselves in sketchy corners, many times on me, and I'm not really a crit guy. So, I'm not a fan.

But you're way off base. He's talked smack about all dopers, I don't see why Ricco shouldn't be in the line of fire as well?? Sure, he's symptomatic of a bigger problem, but let's stop pretending the riders aren't to blame as well. I'm a lot faster than Myerson (no offense) and I'm not sticking a needle in my arm.

And for those who think I'm part of the problem for not publicly taking swipes at riders, on the internet (since I'm anonymous on here) or on twitter (because twitter is ridiculous), I just don't see the point. If I have something worth saying, I'll say it to my DS or Travis Tygert. That's what I've done in the past, and what I'll continue to do.

As far as Ricco, I don't know what to think. I think portraying him as a victim of the system is a little simplistic. He's never done anything to me personally, but I've heard he's a total tool. Ted King almost killed him last year and told the story about 485 times about what an a$$ he was at some race. I wasn't there, so I was half-listening and didn't really care. That probably has a lot to do with the reactions. He makes Rasmussen seem popular.

 

[adammyerson]

He wasn't willing to kill himself doping. His mindset was more like "I'm doing what everyone else is doing". And he should know, much more than you what the current state of doping in the European pro peloton is.

Except you are the one speaking on Ricco's behalf right now. This was a clever trick you went for here. You spoke for him, then agreed with him.

You may or may not be a hypocrite, but you certainly are full of it. Where was all this outrage when the Federal investigation into Lance Armstrong was announced?

Read my blog, follow my Twitter and Facebook. "All this outrage" is there. I was even one of the privileged few to be "Blocked By Lance."

How do you reverse omerta by taking shots at a guy like Ricco? How is that in any way taking a stand? You're a coward and a bandwagon hopper by singling out Ricco and keeping quiet about others who are much more influential who are accused of doing much much worse.

Once again, just pay attention, if you genuinely want an answer. I didn't start speaking out yesterday, or just against Ricco. Search my blog for Lance, Tyler, Landis, Kayle, Coyle. I'm not sure where your information about me is coming from, or that you have any, to be able to draw these conclusions.

Start here, if you like:

http://www.cycle-smart.com/blog/2010/11/25/connect-dots

http://www.cycle-smart.com/blog/2010/04/21/not-so-fast-buddy

http://www.cycle-smart.com/blog/2009/05/22/this-is-why-im-hot

http://www.cycle-smart.com/blog/2009/07/13/now-is-the-time

 

[gatete]

In the end, who wins?

If they speak out = douchebags
If they stay quiet= keeping the omerta

I think riders and posters are humans, I for one opened my account more than two years and barely have 100 posts, I think you guys know a loooot
about cycling, and it's been fun and a privilege to learn as much as I can from you fine people. But sometimes it's really puzzling to me when you want things your way or the highway, and ufortunatelly IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY

 

[Ferminal]

In the end, who wins?

If they speak out = douchebags
If they stay quiet= keeping the omerta

I think riders and posters are humans, I for one opened my account more than two years and barely have 100 posts, I think you guys know a loooot
about cycling, and it's been fun and a privilege to learn as much as I can from you fine people. But sometimes it's really puzzling to me when you want things your way or the highway, and ufortunatelly IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY

In whose eyes?

Those of the silent dopers? That's the problem, a lot of people's careers depend on doping and omerta enforcement. If these people who are giving it to Ricco did the same to Lancey and Contador they would be looking for a new job.

But this time, Ricco has taken a big enough dive that he is "open game", anyone is free to take a potshot. He is an embarrassment to the doping culture of cycling so deserves to be ridiculed.