Riccò hospitalized for possible kidney ailment

[Maxiton]

In '72 Lasse Viren wasn't cheating when he was blood doping. In '76 he was.

We had quite a discussion here last year, trying to determine when blood doping was first used in the peloton. If you (or anyone) could provide more info, it might be very useful.

Well the Italian dailies are reporting in unison the story as if it were factual, though Ricco' himself hasn't yet spoken publicly.

It seems that his case is linked to the breakdown of red blood cells due to poor conservation of the blood in his refrigerator!, which causes hemoglobin along with other substances to leak into the fluid. Hemoglobin is highly toxic to the body and hits the kidneys particularly hard, as it coagulates in these organs, blocking urinary function and devastates them.

All this business regarding the "idiotic" behavior of a single athlete is pure nonsense. For this is the common praxis of the professional cyclist and only the foolish or hypocritical would think otherwise. It seems that in the absence of a qualified medic, as would appear to be the Italian from Modena's case (though the operative word here is qualified alla Fuentes, Ferrari, etc., because it seems highly unlikely that Ricco' would have been acting entirely on his own), lead to his "bad luck". Evidently this is what happens to formerly busted riders. They no longer have access to the best blood doctors and have to rely on more "covert" and hence risky practices. Perhaps this makes a better case for legalization, since the health risks here become much worse than those caused by doping itself. But whatever.

In regards to who is most at fault, the system? The rider? Based upon my experiences many riders are not merely tools of the system but willing participants in its illicit practices. And it doesn't matter if they had a "decent upbringing" or not, mainly, but is connected to their personal qualities and characteristics. On average many athletes of talent, perhaps because of talent, are more prone to seeking out the doping methods than those in the general population. In this sense, it's like it comes with the territory. And it is a thoroughly rotten and insidious territory, professional sports, and not merely in cycling. You have guys that have no scruples whatsoever placed within a world of omerta' and immense corruption. What else is there to expect?

As far as I'm concerned this is the post of the quarter and maybe the year. And Ricco's case points up once again why it might be a good idea to at least entertain legalizing autologous transfusion. Bring a common, even ubiquitous practice out in the open. Quit pretending that anything is accomplished by prohibiting it, other than killing/hurting people.

 

[Roland Rat]

As far as I'm concerned this is the post of the quarter and maybe the year. And Ricco's case points up once again why it might be a good idea to at least entertain legalizing autologous transfusion. Bring a common, even ubiquitous practice out in the open. Quit pretending that anything is accomplished by prohibiting it, other than killing/hurting people.

Rubbish. Legalisation wouldn't make it safer, it would just move the goalposts, so that the ones who would still try to cheat the system (which they would) would still be taking more risks and endangering themselves. All you'd do is a) turn the sport into a freak show (and with fewer sponsors), and b) force clean riders to dope or force them out of the sport. Many kids would probably not even bother taking it up in the first place.

 

[Pandora]

The most shocking thing for me is that Ricco is now back with Rossi and she reportedly watched him do the transfusion.

This interpretation starts to circulate, but I think it's wrong.
Gazzetta says:

il corridore modenese - che versava in stato di choc - ha riferito, "in presenza della moglie" (in realtà la fidanzata Vania Rossi, n.d.r.) di "aver fatto da solo un'autotrasfusione di sangue che conservava nel frigo di casa da 25 giorni"

I understand the above means he admitted to the blood autotransfusion in the presence of Vania Rossi in the hospital.

OK, I highly doubt she didn't know what he kept stored in their fridge, but still, it doesn't mean she helped him with transfusing blood.

 

[alpine_chav]

Rubbish. Legalisation wouldn't make it safer, it would just move the goalposts, so that the ones who would still try to cheat the system (which they would) would still be taking more risks and endangering themselves. All you'd do is a) turn the sport into a freak show (and with fewer sponsors), and b) force clean riders to dope or force them out of the sport. Many kids would probably not even bother taking it up in the first place.

The sport is already a freak show and many clean riders are already forced out of the sport... no clean rider has won anything of significance in recent history.

 

[Roland Rat]

The sport is already a freak show and many clean riders are already forced out of the sport... no clean rider has won anything of significance in recent history.

Phil Gilbert?

The Tour de France is a freak show. The rest of the calendar, not so much. I still believe one-day races, one-week stage races, and stages of the Giro and Vuelta can be won clean.

Anyway, the point is legalising doping will not make it safer, it will just mean the same risk-takers would take further risks to try to gain another advantage.

 

[Mellow Velo]

So, CONI has opened an investigation based upon press releases?
Must be a first.
Presumably, the doc in question has already made an official statement.

If not, all these Twitter pros are quick off the mark. No benefit of the doubt from them, just some pretty vile remarks. Still, I suppose it's a good way to promote ones own image.

Some of them have been getting pretty scathing replies, as a result.
http://twitter.com/greghenderson1

Worth a quick read:
http://theinnerring.blogspot.com/2011/02/kidney-shock.html

 

[595RED]

Good riddance

The Gazetta article suggests that this is a case of autotransfusion = blood doping.

Something has gone wrong: the blood can have been degraded, infected, or mistakenly the blood of somebody with another blood type has been used.

Ricco is clearly in mortal danger.

This highlights that doping is a disease of the m i n d.

Caught under embarrassing circumstances once, and now risking life. Sad.

Yes sad for Ricco for sure and sadder for the state of cycling at that level, perhaps now this lying cheating weasel and lowest denominator of a human being will be leaving the sport and perhaps leaving a wakeup call to those he leaves behind.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Get well soon Ricardo, but when you are well, dont come back to cycling.

this.

Hopefully this is a big warning to those who still think doping is worth it.

i'm sure it will

This issue needs to be addressed strongly. Sassi was one of the guys at the blood doping forefront when he worked with Francesco Moser.

But people believed (mainly through his own self-promotion) that he had somehow rehabilitated himself and became a strong advocate of a new and cleaner style of racing, and at the Mapei training center of all places.

That place is ground zero for many Italian amateur and pros to get their doping programs. To believe anything else is to kid yourself.

That place needs to be closed down once and for all.

I was already pretty skeptical regarding sassi. But this has not changed any perspective for me, cause to be fair ricco could have simply used sassi for good PR. The guy is a snake no doubt, I agree with Uru;

The most shocking thing for me is that Ricco is now back with Rossi and she reportedly watched him do the transfusion. Interesting about-face after throwing her under the bus when she got caught doping. At the time he dumped her publicly I suspected that it was all for show.

if that is the case, then for godssake regulate it and keep these guys/gals from killing themselves.

may seem like a logical choice but a sporting body simply can't support and regulate something such as doping. This incident illustrates just one of the reasons why it can't.
That would certainly kill this already dying sport. (seriously what sponsor would support a sport with regulated doping?) '

and lol at the prospect of riders not doping excessively because it is regulated. hahahaha beause riders dope to be even
I can see some nasty conclusions occurring from regulation.

Joe Parkin made the observation that there are two types of dopers;

A guy who dopes to cycle more.

A guy who cycles to dope more.


Anybody get the feeling this is eventually going to end tragically?

addiction seems correct. Addiction of doping, or addiction at being at the top of the sport I cannot say.
Ricco re-doping is off little surprise (i didn't expect it so early tho), he has the character to risk it all.

I find nothing funny in this. Nothing.

indeed. this event -although not totally unexpected - is quite sickening.

It is easy to slam Ricco, he has always been a tool. You will see Pro after Pro hammer him.....but ignore that there are plenty of others just like him still in the sport. They are riders, Directors, Doctors, all enabling riders to do exactly the same thing as Ricco did.....why no question of them?

yep. ricco is no doubt a fool.
but he is also no doubt a victim of a pretty corrupt and dangerous system.
rest assured it wasn't ricco who came up with this brilliant concept of doping.

The problem is, 99% of us aren't insiders. It's really hard to think pro riders, as insiders, wouldn't have access to and know much of the same information we have, and more. I suppose it's possible that they really are ill informed, but it strains disbelief.

i dunno, this is a difficult question. If true it really illustrates a peleton with no backbone. How could such a large number remain silent? How could so little be brought to light? Out of so many, I hardly think the odd -caught-out-hero-ala-landis would try to tell all while so many stay silent. There has to be more integrity within the peleton then that.
Sadly i still find it a distinct possibility.

Proves how short-sighted UCI was in giving ProTour licence to Ricco's Vacansoleil, instead of Menchov&Saste's Geox. Ethic side should be considered after all..

Now there's a statement marinaded in irony...

what JMB said.

lol. geox are the clean benchmark we have all been waiting for ey.
Vasc. screwed up royally. Probably knew what they were getting into tho, so they really have one to blame but themselves.

A little point from what Luijckx said - "If we get something fixed, it's over for Riccò. A rider like him, who has previously been suspended, he knows that the next mistake [means a] lifetime suspension"

He gets a lifetime ban, but Di Luca didn't? And in addition to Di Luca's pitiful ban for the Santuccione case and the ban he's just coming from (1.5 years~), there was the Worlds 07 and his low hormone values during the Giro that year.

i don't agree with di luca returning. It is evidence of a ridiculous sporting body.

 

[595RED]

This interpretation starts to circulate, but I think it's wrong.
Gazzetta says:



I understand the above means he admitted to the blood autotransfusion in the presence of Vania Rossi in the hospital.

OK, I highly doubt she didn't know what he kept stored in their fridge, but still, it doesn't mean she helped him with transfusing blood.

Birds of a feather here, I cannot think for a second she thought is was the tomato sauce in a new squeeze bag. **** off Ricco.

 

[Pandora]

I see Ricco as a brash, foolish young man who cheated to support his career, his ego, and his family. I don't know his background but I wonder whether he had many other options that would have secured financial success. I don't like it, I don't agree with it, but I can understand it. If it is true about the self-administered transfusion, this only shows us how important it is to join a team with a safe, sophisticated doping program or use the services of an independent expert. Neither option was likely available to Ricco at this low point of his career.

+1

However, I'd like to give him a credit for great comments on the Giro he wrote as a diary 2 or 3 years ago while suspended. I could not find the link any more, but it was great read, saucy and flamboyant.

 

[thehog]

It amazes me that posters believe that doping is still not widespread in some form or other.

The leading prosecutor in Italy said in 2010 it was widespread and nearly all, what was the figure he quoted 99%, were doping?

Dr Fuentes gets busted for the second time!

Contador caught using Clen. for his 3rd TdF win.

Positives in Vuelta

Ricco in hospital, allegedly due to a bad transfusion and confessing to it to the doctors.

Frei explaining the system of micro doping and how stupid he was to get caught due to not drinking enough water.

The liquigas train in the Giro.

the same people are in cycling running teams that were running teams at the height of epo. Bruyneel. Rihs(Phonak BMC) Rabobank, Gianetti, Ochowicz and others are managed by riders who were big dopers Riis etc...

this is to list a few of the recent low points in cycling's doping history.

Problem being now is cycling has turned into those who have and those who have not. Vaughters and Floyd were right about one thing. If you’ve got the money, the time and the logistics its easy to pull off the transfusions and associated dope being transported across Europe. In Ricco's case he’s no longer wealthy and needs results. So he goes for the home made option which resulted in dire consequences. This is not good. That’s why all the guys that have died or ended up with strange sicknesses are always the middle to lower end guys – the ones who can’t afford to do it with the full set up. They have to win a few races to buy onto the high stakes tables with the fully qualified Doctor administering the dope. Maybe this is what Fuentes meant? Its better him doing it than a Ricco type sitting in his house using 30 day old blood?

 

[2beacoup]

Phil Gilbert?

The Tour de France is a freak show. The rest of the calendar, not so much. I still believe one-day races, one-week stage races, and stages of the Giro and Vuelta can be won clean.

Anyway, the point is legalising doping will not make it safer, it will just mean the same risk-takers would take further risks to try to gain another advantage.

Take a look at convicted dopers in 2010. How many of them did even start at a Grand Tour?

 

[Berzin]

Problem being now is cycling has turned into those who have and those who have not. Vaughters and Floyd were right about one thing. If you’ve got the money, the time and the logistics its easy to pull off the transfusions and associated dope being transported across Europe.

In Ricco's case he’s no longer wealthy and needs results. So he goes for the home made option which resulted in dire consequences. This is not good. That’s why all the guys that have died or ended up with strange sicknesses are always the middle to lower end guys – the ones who can’t afford to do it with the full set up.

These are also the guys who, when caught, skulk silently into the night and are usually never heard from again. They are as disposable as discarded medical waste. A rider like this is easy to marginalize-everyone knows it and it's the driving force behind omerta.

Also, like Jesus Manzano of the Kelme team, a rider's salary is probably commiserate with the quality of medical supervision he receives. If it's some high salary rider as Basso or Contador, the medical supervision is top-notch. If it's someone like Manzano, they probably just grab any old bag of blood that's lying in the fridge next to the lettuce without even checking whose it is.

But even guys like Hamilton and Vino fell victim to botched transfusions, so it could happen to anyone.

They have to win a few races to buy onto the high stakes tables with the fully qualified doctor administering the dope. Maybe this is what Fuentes meant? Its better him doing it than a Ricco type sitting in his house using 30 day old blood?

I'm not so sure about this. I don't know if we have all the facts yet. If Ricco was training with Sassi at the Mapei center, he would have had access to doctors who could pull off a transfusion no problem. He certainly would have been given better advice on how to properly store the blood and when to use it.

I think there's more to this story than he's letting on. I think he's lying about something to cover up for someone. My guess is he had a transfusion administered by a doctor and he's just covering up for someone who messed up the procedure.

Keep in mind that with a blood test the doctors at the hospital would have been able to ascertain that something was amiss without him speaking about transfusions and all that. No one in Ricco's camp would have had to say a word about any of it.

 

[alpine_chav]

Phil Gilbert?

The Tour de France is a freak show. The rest of the calendar, not so much. I still believe one-day races, one-week stage races, and stages of the Giro and Vuelta can be won clean.

Anyway, the point is legalising doping will not make it safer, it will just mean the same risk-takers would take further risks to try to gain another advantage.

What about Phil Gilbert?

One day races are definitely not won clean... The real benefits of doping are in training and recovery. Doping lets you go out and train at an unbelievable intensity day after day after day which just isn't possible without it.

 

[Berzin]

Anyone who believes one-day classics and shorter stage races can be won clean have never seen Tyler Hamilton's doping diary from the time he won Leige and the Tour of Romandy.

I would say there is even more at stake for riders during these types of races-a more substantial pay packet, more prestige on the pro circuit and possible selection for the Tour team.

For riders who know they can't do anything at the grand tours, these races mean a lot. It may not mean world-wide acclaim, but it is the difference between a minimum-wage salary and one that will bring a rider into the lower 6 digits.

 

[roundabout]

What about Phil Gilbert?

One day races are definitely not won clean... The real benefits of doping are in training and recovery. Doping lets you go out and train at an unbelievable intensity day after day after day which just isn't possible without it.

Funny how Gilbert's transformation into a major force of 1-day racing occurred during the same time that Lotto hired Freddy Viaene.

 

[Roland Rat]

What about Phil Gilbert?

One day races are definitely not won clean... The real benefits of doping are in training and recovery. Doping lets you go out and train at an unbelievable intensity day after day after day which just isn't possible without it.

Statement: no clean rider has won anything of significance in recent history.

Response: Phil Gilbert.

Or is Gilbert now a doper?

 

[palmerq]

did he ever have food poisoning ?

 

[Roland Rat]

Funny how Gilbert's transformation into a major force of 1-day racing occurred during the same time that Lotto hired Freddy Viaene.

So I guess that makes BMC a team of dopers too, now.

 

[2beacoup]

Statement: no clean rider has won anything of significance in recent history.

Response: Phil Gilbert.

Or is Gilbert now a doper?

Of course not! He never tested positive!

 

[2beacoup]

So I guess that makes BMC a team of dopers too, now.

Are you serious or didn't I get the irony on this one?

 

[rghysens]

Of course not! He never tested positive!

yes he did, back in his days as under 23. His team director then was Dirk De Wolf
Though, he was cleared later on.

 

[palmerq]

Are you serious or didn't I get the irony on this one?

on this forum everyone is a doper :S

 

[Darryl Webster]

Whatever the cause of his kidney problems I wish him a full recovery.
If he`s got a shred of good sence in him , and in view of the utterly appaling attitudes tweeted by his fellow riders, he`l pack cycling in.
If he wants to do something important for the sport he`l also sing like a Canary.

 

[thehog]

Whatever the cause of his kidney problems I wish him a full recovery.
If he`s got a shred of good sence in him , and in view of the utterly appaling attitudes tweeted by his fellow riders, he`l pack cycling in.
If he wants to do something important for the sport he`l also sing like a Canary.

Yes just wait to Ricco starts naming names in the spirit of doing the right thing. I'm sure then the cycling world will think he's a rat!