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Italian press reports that Riccardo Riccò has admitted to self-transfusionRiccardo Ricco (picture- Vacansoleil).jpg

Italian press reports that Riccardo Riccò has admitted to self-transfusion

Reported confession relates to incident in February that put suspended rider in hospital
by Simon_MacMichael
Tue, Oct 11, 2011 13:58
7

Riccardo Riccò has reportedly admitted undertaking a self-administered blood transfusion in February this year, leading to his admission to hospital with suspected kidney failure following a training ride.

The website of Italian cycling magazine Tutto Bici, citing the news agency ANSA, said today that Riccò, who was subsequently sacked by his Vacansoleil-DCM team, made the confession last week to the anti-doping prosecutor at the Italian national Olympic committee, CONI.

Riccò, who returned to cycling last year following a ban imposed after he tested positive for EPO during the 2008 Tour de France, in which he won two stages, reportedly told investigators that he administered the transfusion under medical prescription.

In June, as he was reportedly set to return to racing with the Meridiana-Kamen team in the Tour of Serbia, governing body the Federazione Ciclistica Italiana (FCI) took the unusual step of suspending the 28-year-old from all competition “for reasons relating to the health of the athlete himself.”

Riccardo Ricco
FCI
doping
CONI
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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7 comments

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jarderich | 13 years ago
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Tyler Farrar is ginger as well, not forgetting his beard!

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Simon_MacMichael | 13 years ago
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Just to clarify that when ravjay says in the first line of his post "do you think that became a part of his reason for doping" I'm pretty sure he's talking about Riccardo Ricco, not Ed Clancy...

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rayjay replied to Simon_MacMichael | 13 years ago
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yeah def talking about ricco,,,

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rayjay | 13 years ago
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Ed clancy ,,,hes got the red hair ,do you think that became a part of his reason for doping ,prove that ginger people can climb as good as anyone else ,or his he just an idiot ,an idiot me thinks ,his wife got caught doping as well ,surly if you go to the fridge for a drink and its full of bags of blood at what point does that seem normal and not like a scene from a horror film ,talk about losing the plot and whats sad is that he really loves cycling but once youve doped and you can perform at non human levels and drop anyone on any mountain with ease it must feel hard to go back to normal,but as we have seen in recent years riders coming back after a ban are def not as good as they were Basso etc etc

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Simon_MacMichael | 13 years ago
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At WorldTour level, Dominic Klemme's your man. With his Leopard Trek kit on he looks a proper Belisha Beacon before he sticks his helmet on 3

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PJ McNally | 13 years ago
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+1 to that! it saddens me that he's the most visible ginger in the bunch. (Or, not in the bunch any more, it seems).

Does anyone know of any other ginger / redhead pros? It'd be nice to know it's possible - I do get a bit paranoid about all the sun exposure when I ride, but if it's pro... 1

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herohirst | 13 years ago
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Gives Ginger people a bad name.

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