The Cobra Strikes - Ricco`'s latest

[longrun]

Ricco pops his head up in Giro! What an unexpected bonus!! Welcome back Cobra! The sport needs you and your big mouth, YES!

Ricco is the guy you love to hate. Definitely adds needed spice and interest to the sport. Brash outspoken young guys like Ricco and Cav make it fun. Now that UCI and ASO aren't fighting like in past years, and most of the leading riders are in boring middle age, Ricco's crashing the party is a needed wake up to a very sleepy year.

Maybe LA will start saying what he really thinks more often. Love those unfiltered outbursts and wish they weren't so rare.

A thread on Ricco made me register for the forum! Hi Guys!

BTW what I remember Millar for in his doping years was his incessant whining about the tough stages. Much prefer seeing him throw his bike! LOL

 

[mr. tibbs]

Ricco reminds me of Eminem.

 

[Bala Verde]

I enjoyed the link, as Riccò can offer great insights about the Giro, having been a protagonist in the last two years. Here is my translation of the complete interview in David's link (I can't watch the Youtube link at the moment). I don't find him dissing, just telling his opinion, which for me is worth no less than that of us forumists (though I disagree with much of what he says).

Interesting what he says... When you read the whole article, translated the way you did, he doesn't appear to be very antagonistic or polemic. I wonder if he refers to LIQ (Basso and Pellizoti) that they are racing like dogs as if they seem to be playing chase with each other...

 

[ElChingon]

Well did u guys really expect him to keep his mouth shut, cause i didn't I mean it's Ricco. As far as what he said he's right we've been saying the same thing maybe not about Gibo but that's Ricco, sounds like a tv sitcom title doesn't it. Now about the doping well he should've had some common decency like contador to not test positive yet

Not like a sitcom but more like what happens in real life, and even on this board

There's always someone you know of who's trash talking and talking BS, why not in the ProTour? Makes it more real to me, not saying I agree with everything he says just that he makes it more real.

 

[BigBoat]

Ricco reminds me of Eminem.

You know everybody thinks what they dont say.

 

[rhubroma]

armstrong was 99... id be amazed if anyone was clean in 99... cycling has come a long way...

ricco last year was blatently, so ridiculously blatently up to his eyeballs in the mountains, when, i hope, the majority of the pelaton was trying to clean up its act.. doesnt make the guys in 99 right, but they where all at it.. same as it doesnt make merckx or any of the rest of the right, but they where all at it.. .

Come on Dimspace, you're too intelligent to be making these statements...
Armstrong didn't only dope in 99, just like Ricco wasn't the only one on CERA at the Tour last year. And as far as his persona goes: look, British sobriety has nothing to do with the man and is considered hypocritical to Italians from la Romagna region such as Riccò. There it's all about having BALLS and not masking your words behind a fake etiquette...

The man has BALLS and doesn't mask his words and that's what ****es you off, and, in reality, people who are upset by him don't have the BALLS to be like him and so are envious.

Having said that, I didn't like him for this very reason initially. But then I though what an over sensitive **** I'm being: the man's got BALLS. So now I respect him, in the sense that the fact that he doped doesn't matter (because it's a culture as BigBoat correctly points out). It's how he has handled his getting busted and has remained true to his charcter that has earned my respect. He'll probably have problems with his collegues when he returns, but, in the end, he'll probably turn that into an advantage because he's mentally stronger than most.

 

[davidw]

Interesting what he says... When you read the whole article, translated the way you did, he doesn't appear to be very antagonistic or polemic. I wonder if he refers to LIQ (Basso and Pellizoti) that they are racing like dogs as if they seem to be playing chase with each other...

"Playing chase" is not what doing something 'da cani' means in Italian. It means doing something badly. Thankfully, they're not actually chasing one another down...

 

[*G*K*S*]

Having said that, I didn't like him for this very reason initially. But then I though what an over sensitive **** I'm being: the man's got BALLS. So now I respect him, in the sense that the fact that he doped doesn't matter (because it's a culture as BigBoat correctly points out). It's how he has handled his getting busted and has remained true to his charcter that has earned my respect. He'll probably have problems with his collegues when he returns, but, in the end, he'll probably turn that into an advantage because he's mentally stronger than most.

In total agreement here. He gets in your face because a Cobra will do that sometimes.

Keep spittin' in their eyes Ricco!

 

[Jasper]

The reason Ricco generates so much "hatred" is not that he is so arrogant, or that he doped, it is that he was so arrogant and outspoken about how good he was while he was doping.

Exactly.

Especially his overconfidence concerning the tests for CERA. The entire "if you think I doped, try and catch me" act was rather pathetic, as it was too obvious he was. That look he had, "you know I'm taking, I know I'm taking, but you just can't prove it", together with his boasting about how damn great he is and how much all the others suck just ruined it for me. I love a tad of arrogance in a rider, even more if he can back it up with his legs. But too much is just too much. So I was glad it blew up in his face the way it did.

But the guy obviously deserves a second chance, just like every other convicted doper. I do agree that it might not be the best tactics to be already dissing you colleagues, long before your suspension ends. It will not earn you many friends in the peloton, and in the end he will need some. Coming clean is good, but not if you show no remorse at all and show no intent of changing your attitude towards other riders, the press and the public - the ones you screwed over.

 

[Anonymous]

i agree, a second chance when the two years is up, if he comes back clean.. but in the meantime i think he should shut the hell up with his opinions about how other cyclists are performing.. perhaps if he hadnt doped he would be in the giro and could prove how good he was, and put actions where his mouth was... but he cant..

ricco for me was probably the most dissapointing of all the recent drug cases.. he was young, he had talent, agression, everything.. and then he does that.. and even harps on about it.. no remorse, nothing..

in the words of nick cave "They ask me if i feel remorse, i answer why of course, there is so much more i could have done if they had let me"

 

[LugHugger]

The man has BALLS and doesn't mask his words and that's what ****es you off, and, in reality, people who are upset by him don't have the BALLS to be like him and so are envious.

What a load of rubbish.Ricco is a pastiche of a matador. Willing to talk when doped to the eyeballs. A reputation built over 6 years of doping even during his junior years. Am I supposed to be impressed? Well, let me tell you, I'm not.

I don't want to hear his BS. Let's see how competitive he is when he returns. And I'm certainly not envious of his Eurotrash image.

Get over yourself.

 

[rhubroma]

What a load of rubbish.Ricco is a pastiche of a matador. Willing to talk when doped to the eyeballs. A reputation built over 6 years of doping even during his junior years. Am I supposed to be impressed? Well, let me tell you, I'm not.

I don't want to hear his BS. Let's see how competitive he is when he returns. And I'm certainly not envious of his Eurotrash image.

Get over yourself.

Get over myself? I have nothing to get over. Riccò was caught, he speaks as he pleases. You don't like it? Then stay in your own non-Eurotrash world. Like he was the only matador doped to his eyeballs. Please...that's the real rubish. Whya are people like you so moralistic?

 

[LugHugger]

Get over myself? I have nothing to get over. Riccò was caught, he speaks as he pleases. You don't like it? Then stay in your own non-Eurotrash world. Like he was the only matador doped to his eyeballs. Please...that's the real rubish. Whya are people like you so moralistic?

So we should act without morals? I should feel guilty about having morals? I should be an apologist? I should admire your false god? I'm not so blinkered to believe that he is alone, but I sure as hell am not going to admire him. His entire career is built on artifice and deceipt.

 

[rhubroma]

So we should act without morals? I should feel guilty about having morals? I should be an apologist? I should admire your false god? I'm not so blinkered to believe that he is alone, but I sure as hell am not going to admire him. His entire career is built on artifice and deceipt.

Yeah...just like everybody else. And yours isn't about morality, but puritanism. I'm just a realist. Or else I'd watch another sport like tiddlywinks...

 

[Andy.G]

Yes, but he's just a bike rider ... and thats what we're all here for ..
He did some stupid things, said some stupid things, ended up looking pretty stupid. He's still just a bike rider. You over there - you like him, you over there - you dislike him. They are all just bike riders. Some people are entertained by opinionated and animated characters, they hold a spectacular interest. Others do a lot of opinionated talking themselves ... some here have pretty astronomical post counts, Hmmmm ...

Taking it all a bit seriously aren't we ???

Go to a race. Race yourself if you want. Watch our beautiful sport on TV. Clap, cheer and get excited ... talk about it ... absolutely tutt-tutt when someone gets caught doing something stupid ... get over it quickly ... ride your own bike often and encourage others to do so, teach or take a kid riding and racing. REPEAT over and over.

To quote Fat Boy Slim ... 'drop the hate - forgive each other'

I'm going racing tonite and I'll be talkin' Ricco-esque trash with my friends, lookin' for a free lead-out and laughin' about it later.

 

[Seth Bullock]

Yes, but he's just a bike rider ... and thats what we're all here for ..
He did some stupid things, said some stupid things, ended up looking pretty stupid. He's still just a bike rider. You over there - you like him, you over there - you dislike him. They are all just bike riders. Some people are entertained by opinionated and animated characters, they hold a spectacular interest. Others do a lot of opinionated talking themselves ... some here have pretty astronomical post counts, Hmmmm ...

Taking it all a bit seriously aren't we ???

Go to a race. Race yourself if you want. Watch our beautiful sport on TV. Clap, cheer and get excited ... talk about it ... absolutely tutt-tutt when someone gets caught doing something stupid ... get over it quickly ... ride your own bike often and encourage others to do so, teach or take a kid riding and racing. REPEAT over and over.

To quote Fat Boy Slim ... 'drop the hate - forgive each other'

I'm going racing tonite and I'll be talkin' Ricco-esque trash with my friends, lookin' for a free lead-out and laughin' about it later.

+10. A very nice summation, couldn't agree more. And it comes from Down Under too - go the Aussies! P.S. I don't like/didn't like Ricco but also like/respect other rider/s whom many get extremely worked up about. At the end of the day it's all about the bike - get on and ride - bl@@dy hell, it's dark, raining and blowing a gale! Perhaps some couch and beer time? Hmmm couch and beeeer...

 

[Leopejo]

Now, Riccò sometimes went over the top and there is not much arguing on that, either here or in Italy (you should see the load of sh_t he gets on Italian forums).

Still, I think that there always is something lost when someone's television interviews are reported, ofted abridged, in print, and even worse if in translation.

I am specifically referring to Gilberto Simoni, who on television always comes out (to me!) as a humble, low profile, experienced guy with wise words. Instead online, esp. in English language forums, he has the reputation of a whiner or brat, hasn't he?

 

[craig1985]

Riccardo Ricco: