Riccò hospitalized for possible kidney ailment

[Dekker_Tifosi]

So Ricco really wanted to peak hard in the Tour de Meditterraneen.
Doesn't make much sense. But then again, it's Ricco?

 

[BotanyBay]

On a personal level, I hope the guy gets better.

+1. Absolutely.

 

[rolfrae]

So Ricco really wanted to peak hard in the Tour de Meditterraneen.
Doesn't make much sense. But then again, it's Ricco?

Perhaps his aim was to be strong season long to show his "natural" talent. Perhaps it was to fool the Passport, or even the Mapei controls?

 

[euanli]

I guess this now pulls apart the Sassi = no doping concrete assumption

 

[Roland Rat]

On a personal level, I hope the guy gets better.

Of course. And that he gets psychiatric help. He's got a kid FFS.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

It makes me wonder...have they cracked down enough to where doctors are scared to offer and administer their services now, especially someone with a past like Ricco? Essentially forcing some to attempt transfusions on their own?

Perhaps I don't understand, but I thought blood transfusions have to be "perfect" or you can really mess yourself up. More dangerous times with rouges like this?

Also, wasn't his place searched during "cobra red" or whatever it was called. They must have missed the fridge, or perhaps it wasn't set up at that point.

Sassi (RIP) must be rolling over in his grave.

 

[ingsve]

I would imagine it is simply Ricco's desperation to win and satisfy his new sponsors. He knows they took a risk hiring him, he knows that if he doesn't perform well early in the season he won't get to ride the big races he loves.

How could he not get to ride any race he wants? It's not like they have enough climbers to keep him out of any team for his type of race.

 

[Anonymous]

Firstly, while I sympathise with Ricco in his unfortunate situation, that sympathy is similar to that I would have for someone who deliberately walked in front of a bus.

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

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

 

[ingsve]

Perhaps his aim was to be strong season long to show his "natural" talent. Perhaps it was to fool the Passport, or even the Mapei controls?

Or perhaps he is just brought up on microdosing EPO and wasn't experienced enough to blood transfusions so he thought he could do it the same way.

 

[Anonymous]

+1. Absolutely.

me too.

i'm afraid that will get lost in this forum whilst everybody is nitpicking about the whys and wherefores...

 

[roundabout]

I guess this now pulls apart the Sassi = no doping concrete assumption

What the heck is a concrete assumption?

And secondly, Sassi died less than 2 months after agreeing to work with Ricco. Not sure how much you can infer from such a short collaboration.

Finally, puts Vacansoleil reaction into perspective.

 

[Barrus]

Or perhaps he is just brought up on microdosing EPO and wasn't experienced enough to blood transfusions so he thought he could do it the same way.

You really think he didn't do blood transfusions even prior to his last ban?

 

[hrotha]

Blood transfusions can go wrong, it's simple as that. If the doctor story is true, Riccò feared he might have stored it wrong and that the blood went bad. When it's not an individual thing usually it's not even team doctors doing them. The problem was not with Riccò not knowing how or when to do it, but with the storage and cooling.

 

[skidmark]

Although I'm filing this under 'least surprising news of the year', it is also extremely depressing. I mean, I know who Ricco is, I know what cycling is, but some part of me, SOME part of me, wanted to believe that he and the system were not beyond reform. Some part of me wanted to have a nugget of belief that Sassi in his dying days was telling the truth that it was possible to be clean and ride well. If this Ricco stuff pans out the way it's looking, I would be forced to draw the conclusion that either someone with as much cycling experience as Sassi was naive to the core, or that he was just lying through his teeth. Both of those are depressing conclusions.

Get well Ricco, physically and mentally. I hope you and others learn.

 

[Kvinto]

I'm shocked if this is true... why does the liar becomes the honest man only when there's a risk for his life?... what is the worth of the words he used to say everytime since the end of his suspension?... fool... fool... fool
I do not want to believe in this

 

[OneRaceWonder]

FFS, maybe it's just a kidney ailment???

Is it just me or is this a FAIL!!!??

 

[adamski101]

I am no fan of Ricco, but I wish him well and hope that he makes a full and healthy recovery. But I also hope now that if these stories turn out to be true that he walks away from cycling now before doing himself irrepairable damage.

It is sad that he feels that he needs to go to these lenghts to win. it is not good for his team, not good for the sport and certainly not good for him.

 

[spalco]

****. I like Ricco, that sucks. I was hoping he'd make a splash at least before the inevitable happens.

 

[Berzin]

I guess this now pulls apart the Sassi = no doping concrete assumption.

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.

 

[nowhereman]

I am no fan of Ricco, but I wish him well and hope that he makes a full and healthy recovery. But I also hope now that if these stories turn out to be true that he walks away from cycling now before doing himself irrepairable damage.

It is sad that he feels that he needs to go to these lenghts to win. it is not good for his team, not good for the sport and certainly not good for him.

The reason I chose to reply to your post is because I am no fan of that idiot either. However, I do not extend any sympathy to that jerk. He's lucky he didn't kill himself. After that his luck is done. That arrogant, cheating, STUPID, SOB should be banned for life. He carries his plague with him, where ever he goes, and his kind is a blight to the sport of cycling. No more forgiveness for him. the UCI and WADA and all of the authorities should come down on him as hard as possible to rid the sport of his kind. Persistent loser, caught twice on major doping offences. He's like the crack addict you see in the street, laying there with drool running down his face. Not many people feel sorry for those kind of people, why should anybody feel sorry for Ricco? Cut him loose, and let him killl himself, away from the cycling world. This kind of character infuriates me. There are NO excuses for his kind of behavior.
As I said before, he's lucky to be alive. That's it.

 

[Cobblestones]

I'm very much ambivalent about this.

On the one side, I wish Ricco a speedy recovery, on the other side, I don't want to see him race ever again.

Why he did it? Well, for starters, you cannot keep blood for all that long. One way to 'refresh' a blood bag would be to inject the old one (close to the end of its 'best before' date stamp), wait a few days, and extract a new bag. There's a bit of a loss in the process, but if you do it well, there's not much reaction from the body (drop in retics, change of off score or crit etc.) and you have just 'renewed' one bag to be kept until P-N or spring classics etc.

Also, as someone said, you'd want to establish a baseline in winter so that variations don't look too out of place when blood doping is in full swing during spring and summer.

Overall, just another piece on the string of neverending doping news which are destroying the sport.

 

[131313]

EPO is for long term treatment of anaemia caused by kidney failure.

no, it's not. It's for short-term use to treat anaemia caused by chemotherapy. Some doctors were prescribing it for off-label use to treat long-term anaermia. There's now a specific black box warning regarding that practice, since it's not effective and it increased mortality rates:

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety...ormationforPatientsandProviders/ucm200297.htm

Epogen®/Procrit® is indicated for the treatment of anemia due to the effect of concomitantly administered chemotherapy, based on studies that have shown a reduction in the need for red blood cell transfusions in patients with metastatic, non-myeloid malignancies receiving chemotherapy for a minimum of 2 months.
ESAs are not indicated for use in patients receiving hormonal agents, therapeutic biologic products, or radiotherapy unless receiving concomitant myelosuppressive chemotherapy.
ESAs are not indicated for patients receiving myelosuppressive therapy when the anticipated outcome is cure.
ESA use has not been demonstrated in controlled clinical trials to improve symptoms of anemia, quality of life, fatigue, or patient well-being.

Along with the mountains of research which have led to this, there's a lot more which has yet to be published, or the publication of which is currently in dispute, because drug companies have a lot of money and ESAs are big business. The entire EPO situation makes the UCI look like an upright organization.

Regardless, is the new news that it was a blood transfusion gone bad?

 

[Frosty]

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.

Why does everyone seem to be assuming that this was part of the Mapei/Sassi training plan? They dont watch over the athletes 24/7 and maybe no blood readings had shown any anomalies because it was the first time he had done it. The apparent amateur nature of the blood doping suggests both that it may have been the first time he had done it and also that he had no guidance. Neither of these things suggest that it was part of organised doping.

Not saying that Sassi/Mapei = clean but i dont think Ricco being involved in blood doping means they are dirty. Be interesting to see what comes out over the course of an investigation.

 

[Havetts]

Regardless, is the new news that it was a blood transfusion gone bad?

Yep, he admitted it himself.

 

[adamski101]

The reason I chose to reply to your post is because I am no fan of that idiot either. However, I do not extend any sympathy to that jerk. He's lucky he didn't kill himself. After that his luck is done. That arrogant, cheating, STUPID, SOB should be banned for life. He carries his plague with him, where ever he goes, and his kind is a blight to the sport of cycling. No more forgiveness for him. the UCI and WADA and all of the authorities should come down on him as hard as possible to rid the sport of his kind. Persistent loser, caught twice on major doping offences. He's like the crack addict you see in the street, laying there with drool running down his face. Not many people feel sorry for those kind of people, why should anybody feel sorry for Ricco? Cut him loose, and let him killl himself, away from the cycling world. This kind of character infuriates me. There are NO excuses for his kind of behavior.
As I said before, he's lucky to be alive. That's it.

hey i agreee with absolutely everything you say. the sport does not need guys like Ricco, and I hope they throw the book at him. my post was more from the human aspect of the story, that it is a shame that soemone who has been given a second chance, and an opportunity for redemption should stuff it up so badly and be prepared to put not just his career but his life on the line. it's ridiculous and absurd. I have little or no sympathy for him or for those that have supported him on his comeback. what is happening now was all sadly inevitable. But as much as I don't like the guy and have no real sympathy for him, I don't wish severe ill health on him. Woudln't wish that on anyone. I certaily was and am not feeling sorry for him. Just pointing out there is a human life involved in all of this.