"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Ricco Positive

Riccò positive
Italian rider Riccardo Riccò of Saunier Duval has tested positive for blood booster Erythropoietin (EPO), French sports daily L'Equipe reported on their website on Thursday. According to the paper's Damien Ressiot, one of the climber's urine samples collected by the French Anti-Doping Agency AFLD showed traces of a third generation EPO called CERA (Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator).

Riccò, who won two stages in the Tour de France (the sixth and ninth), was ninth on general classification before the news broke on Thursday morning. The Italian's impressive performances have in the past been explained by his naturally high hematocrit level.

The Italian from Spanish team Saunier Duval was part of a targeted group of riders. Since the start of the race in Brest, the AFLD performed numerous anti-doping tests on him, at least four according to L'Equipe.

Riccò will not continue the race. This morning at the start of stage 12 from Lavelanet to Narbonne, he was taken from his team bus into a team car, which drove away. There was no information as to where he was driven, or if the transport involved French police forces.

Cyclingews will update this Newsflash as the story unfolds.

Wtf :(

And I really thought this tour would be different.

these guys are starting to tick me off.....

Yeah, wow. I wonder what will happen with the cobra's attitude now.

What a pain. Now the prize money distributions will need to be rearranged. And of course his teammates will be heavily suspected/tested too.

cdr

Man, it's like these guys want to get caught.

screws my performance fantasy league team.

:bang:

I say push the limits of human preformance and let them dope.

dang

i really didnt think any big names would go down this year

Welp, won that bet.

What to do with that hundred bucks...

First time I saw him at the front riding that strong, after the Giro, told my friend, "hundred bucks says the guy's on the juice."

It's amazing to me, the mentality of a rider that is willing to take this chance given the level of scrutiny that exists now. And in Ricco's case, he just came off a great Giro. It's not like his job's in jeopardy...now his livelihood's in jeopardy.

I say push the limits of human preformance and let them dope.

Yeah, what the hell...who cares if a kid in his late 20's goes to bed and does not wake up. It's his life, right?

Is McQuaid going to shoot off his mouth now about how the italians are slow to catch on? Or maybe he'll just keep his mouth shut. We can only hope. McQuaid should just be standing on the sidelines, clucking at the results of an ASO nightmare. Gosh, just think what the "grand de-baucle" would be like if they were browbeating teams to leave like they did last year...three teams gone and the tour hasn't reached the second rest day. Barloworld had 1 rider dns and 2 riders dnf yesterday. I'm surprised they haven't pulled out with only 5 riders left.

i feel bad for the rest of saunier duval

ya, but at least the rest of SD can drink their sorrows away, since they won't be finishing the tour

Time to link to a story from last year:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/non_doping_cyclists_finish_tour_de

i feel bad for the rest of saunier duval

unless they're on the same vitamins.

Man oh man. Guy knew he was on the "suspect" list and that the ASO was essentially after him......

As RW said his livelihood is at stake and his Giro performance is suspect....

A Saunier Duval statement I read implies that they're calling it quits completely....

So incredibly dumb and selfish (I must add that the B sample is still yet to be tested).

Speaking of the Giro: No positives after the entire event whereas 3 (and counting) positives in ~ 1/2 the TdF.

Huh??


:beer:

Speaking of the Giro: No positives after the entire event whereas 3 (and counting) positives in ~ i/2 the TdF.


Totally valid point. Either the AFLD is better than everyone else at catching them or .... well ... I dunno.

Looks like he tried to follow in Pantini's footsteps a little too closely.

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=reu-tourdopingricco&prov=reuters&type=lgns



"He’s not Spanish but he’s connected to Spain,” added McQuaid


Brilliant...

The AFLD isn't testing French Teams or french riders. The only french team that was tested was Hushovd when he won a stage

I still get weirded out when I read about someone carrying around "bags of blood" in their suitcase.

The AFLD isn't testing French Teams or french riders. The only french team that was tested was Hushovd when he won a stage

Where are you getting your info?

(I'm not saying its not true, but I'm curious. It would be interesting to see how many French riders are being tested)

“It’s a decision from the team; we were not forced to pull out of the Tour de France,” Fernandez said. “He is our GC leader, so logically we can not start the day and act as if nothing has happened.”

Reading between the lines, is he really saying: "We're all using it, so we're leaving before we all get caught."

I wonder if he'll blame his team like he did when he lost in il Giro this year? Certainly all his "wins" are now tainted.

Goodbye Ricco. You were/are such a jerk. I'm glad to see you go.

... Brad

Reading between the lines, is he really saying: "We're all using it, so we're leaving before we all get caught."

Yeah, I was thinking something along the same lines.

I bet David Millar is laughing at his former teammates, obviously he left at the right time.

The AFLD isn't testing French Teams or french riders. The only french team that was tested was Hushovd when he won a stage

There are plenty of rumors going around about Christophe Moreau abandoning because of testing done by AFLD.

“It’s a decision from the team; we were not forced to pull out of the Tour de France,” Fernandez said. “He is our GC leader, so logically we can not start the day and act as if nothing has happened.”

Reading between the lines, is he really saying: "We're all using it, so we're leaving before we all get caught."


That a was a very convincing win for those two guys. They didn't even look tired.

I really can't believe how f'n stupid some of these guys are, I was really enjoying this tour, but this sh*t is making me want to turn it off.

Where are you getting your info?

(I'm not saying its not true, but I'm curious. It would be interesting to see how many French riders are being tested)


One place to look is cyclingnews, yesterday's road news, third article down. There's a lot in there, but the real crux of it is what appears to be a lack of professionals dealing with the testing. People not knowing how to fill out forms, riders standing around because the facility is too small.

Rumor is that Moreau had abnormal readings before the race started, now says he's leaving due to back pain and general fatigue, which apparently was news to his team management.

I'd say it was a travesty if I was not laughing so hard.

I really can't believe how f'n stupid some of these guys are, I was really enjoying this tour, but this sh*t is making me want to turn it off.

Not me...to me it's like a soap opera...I can't wait to see what happens next.

It's just sad to see this over shadow the tour AGAIN!

As RW said his livelihood is at stake and his Giro performance is suspect....

So Contador beat a guy that was on the juice.

Cool.:thumb:

:ride:

So Contador beat a guy that was on the juice.

Cool.:thumb:

:ride:

you're not saying. your're just saying.

:innocent:

later.

So Contador beat a guy that was on the juice.

Cool.:thumb:

:ride:

Something about those Johan B riders....they always seem to be able to beat guys who juice....yet they are clean...funny that.

Anyone that wins at that level is beating someone who is juicing at some level.

Let's not fail the logic test that because some dopers are winning does not mean that all winners are doping.

Just saying.

Not me...to me it's like a soap opera...I can't wait to see what happens next.

+1

The real question is, does he forfeit the points he won in the Performance Fantasy League? Does Valverde get the points for the stage win?

Speaking of the Giro: No positives after the entire event whereas 3 (and counting) positives in ~ 1/2 the TdF.




Not quite true--they just don't have validated tests for some drugs yet:

"In the last twenty minutes we've heard that Riccardo Riccò has tested positive for an EPO-like product. The early reports suggest that Riccò used CERA or Micera. a so-called third generation EPO. What's your reaction?

Wow. I'm stunned. I'm amazed they're saying it's Micera, simply because there's no validated test for that yet. The World Anti-Doping Agency is working on a test, but it certainly doesn't exist yet.
What exactly is CERA, or Micera to give it its commercial name?

It's a delayed-action EPO, which has a different molecular mass from EPO. It's only been commercially available since the start of the year. We can tell when someone's used it but we can't declare them positive. In that respect it's like Dynepo, another EPO-like product. We know that Micera was being used on the Giro, so I'm not surprised that it's also turned up at the Tour. But I would be very surprised if they AFLD had declared Riccò positive for Micera, for the reasons I've just mentioned. Maybe they searched Riccò's room and found the product itself..."

Quoted from:
http://www.bikeradar.com/blogs/article/doping-expert-stunned-by-ricco-positive-17595

I really can't believe how f'n stupid some of these guys are...

But they thought they were being smart. They had found a newer form of EPO that they were SURE would never be detected.
Dopers are always one step ahead, and officials are always playing catch-up.
This time, they weren't a full step ahead.
I just wonder how many other teams have the new stuff and are scrambling to get rid of it.

Sucks, man.

It's strange--now that I have a kid on the way I've been thinking about things with a slightly different perspective. It's well known that doping permeates cycling all the way down to the cat 2/3 ranks, and I'm not really sure what I'm going to tell my kid years from now when/if he/she wants to become a bike racer.

I thought this new beta couldn't be detected. Maybe they were using older stuff. Plus, and correct me if I'm wrong, isn't it clear from your system withing a week? If you use it I.V.? That would mean they were continuing to maintain while competing.

The AFLD isn't testing French Teams or french riders. The only french team that was tested was Hushovd when he won a stage

So someone is finally willing to forget PC and go after the most suspect riders. Seems like a good thing to me. - TF

Sucks, man.

It's strange--now that I have a kid on the way I've been thinking about things with a slightly different perspective. It's well known that doping permeates cycling all the way down to the cat 2/3 ranks, and I'm not really sure what I'm going to tell my kid years from now when/if he/she wants to become a bike racer.

start by teaching him/her to say "go daddy go!" it's a rush when my 18 m.o. yells that, although I've never heard it when in the peloton. Otherwise, if he/she wants to become a bike racer, teach by example.;)

The French have criminalized doping. What penalty/sentence is Ricco looking at if convicted in a French court?

I am embarrassed for every professional cyclist......again.

Interesting--CERA's actually not EPO. It's a drug that specifically activates the EPO receptor, works much faster, and doesn't need to be dosed as frequently.

I just skimmed a couple phase II studies (yeah, not FDA approved yet) and it seems pretty effective.

Kinda dumb for dopers, though. The original, i.e. rhEPO, being a recombinant human protein and identical to what your body makes, would seem intuitively harder to detect. I guess this is evidenced by the fact that CERA isn't even on the market and it's already detectable, whereas EPO testing has always been a challenge.

Dumbazz racers.

Yeah, the more I go on with cycling as a sport, the more racing loses it's appeal to me.

There's something not right when a local 45 y/o (who has gotten faster as he gets older) is able to ride these pro-level guys off of his wheel and beat them consistently. I used to think doping only exists on the pro level, but now I'm never sure anymore.

Yuck. Maybe I'll just ride for fun now. It'd sure be cheaper, haha.


Sucks, man.

It's strange--now that I have a kid on the way I've been thinking about things with a slightly different perspective. It's well known that doping permeates cycling all the way down to the cat 2/3 ranks, and I'm not really sure what I'm going to tell my kid years from now when/if he/she wants to become a bike racer.

Anyone that wins at that level is beating someone who is juicing at some level.

Let's not fail the logic test that because some dopers are winning does not mean that all winners are doping.

Just saying.

When a rider who claims to be clean consistently beats riders who admit to doping one has to wonder how this could be. I agree that a on a given day a clean rider can beat a dirty one....but the constancy at which certain 'clean' riders beat dirty one's makes me wonder just how 'clean' these guys are.

Let's also not be naive about this, in the EPO era, and the sophistication of the drugs being used to gain performance the testers are at the disadvantage. There was a time that I believed that only a few without talent doped to keep up, but over the last 3 years we've seen the top men all fall. It's hard to believe that a clean rider could dominate against an armada of doped riders.