WORLD time trial champion Fabien Cancellara believes that Italian cyclist Riccardo Ricco should be cast out of the sport for good should it be proven that he has given himself blood transfusions en-route to his comeback to top level racing from a 20 month ban for doping.
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Speaking at the Tour of Qatar with five journalists - including the Herald - after Ricco was taken to hospital in Italy with kidney failure, Cancellara (Leopard) said: "In the end we should stand him up and shoot him to the moon, that's all; because these people don't understand anything about life."
Ricco, 27, was booted from the 2008 Tour de France for breaching anti-doping protocols and was rushed to hospital on Monday in a critical condition. Last March the Italian returned from a 20 month ban for doping with the second tier Ceramica Flamina team and won five stages and overall honours in the Tour of Austria. In August, he then bought himself out of his contract to join Vacansoleil and, with his world ranking points, helped his team to earn first division ProTeam status. He began the season at the Grand Prix Marseillaise and was due to start the Tour Méditerranéen tomorrow.
But on Sunday after training, Ricco was rushed to hospital in Modena, citing kidney problems and was diagnosed a being in a critical condition. It was reported that doctors there told authorities he admitted to injecting blood that he had kept for 25 days and that local prosecutors had been informed.
While Ricco was admitted in a critical condition, the hospital director issued an update on Tuesday afternoon after Ricco's parents had left the hospital. The statement read: “His general condition is improving. The patient had a quiet night and is alert. The prognosis is reserved as an act of prudence."
The Italian Olympic Committee anti-doping body quickly launched an investigation. Its statement said: "The anti-doping prosecutor's office announces that it has opened disciplinary proceedings against professional cyclist Riccardo Ricco on the basis of news which has appeared in the press."
Nicknamed the 'Cobra', Ricco was stripped of his two stage victories in the 2008 edition of the Tour de France after he was found to have taken the banned new strain of erythropoietin [EPO] that was called CERA when riding for the Saunier Duval-Prodir team that is now named Geox-TMC.
Despite serving his ban, suspicions about Ricco continued and in September last year, the three-time Giro d'Italia stage winner's house was raided as part of an Italian police probe into doping. Unidentified tablets were seized by authorities, but no charges were brought against him. Recently, Ricco had spoken out about avenging his shame in this year's three-week Giro and had even talked of his desire to show that he could race clean.
But Cancellara was not sympathetic about Ricco after stage two of the Tour of Qatar that left him fourth overall at 8 seconds to Belgian race leader Tom Boonen (QuickStep). He said: "One time idiot always idiot. The way a person shows [themselves]. The way a person is.The way he showed up. The way he came back. The way he talks. The way people don't like him. I feel sorry for his health, but in a way it's his own problem because he created it."
If Ricco is found guilty of further doping, he faces a possible three year jail term. His Vacansoleil team was still seeking more information but said that its "zero-tolerance policy" on doping would result in any rider or staff found to be in violation of the UCI's anti-doping rules be immediately fired.
