Ricardo Ricco

[limerickman]

Ricco seems to be addicted.



The Italian National Anti-Doping Tribunal has today issued its verdict in the Riccardo Ricco doping case, banning the 28-year-old for 12 years after he admitted to self-administering a blood transfusion in February 2011.
Ricco had previously served a two-year ban for EPO use and the verdict from the Italian authority, which finds in favour of the Italian Olympic Committee's (CONI) recommendation, will effectively end his career in professional cycling.
Ricco ended up in hospital in February 2011 due to kidney problems, and eventually admitted several months later that they may have come about from a self-administered transfusion. CONI subsequently announced, in October 2011, that it was requesting a 12-year ban for Ricco - a request that was upheld today.
Ricco enjoyed a highly promising start to his career with Saunier Duval-Prodir, winning two stages at the Giro d'Italia and finishing second overall in 2008 as a 24-year-old. However, just weeks later he tested positive for CERA, a variant of EPO, at the Tour de France, and received a two-year ban, which was reduced to 20 months after he co-operated with the investigation.
Ricco returned to racing, and to form, in 2010, winning the Tour of Austria and finishing second at the Giro del Trentino in the colours of Vacansoleil-DCM. But temptation was never far away from the Italian and his life and his career unravelled again the following year. Ricco will be approaching his 40th birthday when his ban runs out, meaning that he will have to forge a new life away from cycling - something his countryman Mario Cipolloni advised him to do late last year

 

[Dave Cutter]

I wonder if it is an addiction to dope(s) that is used for performance enhancement. Or could the athletes be driven by ego and desire win. Or maybe just needing to compete at a certain standard in order to maintain the status and lifestyle they've become accustomed to.

What do old bicycle racers do.... write books, open bicycle shops?

 

[limerickman]

Originally Posted by Dave Cutter .

I wonder if it is an addiction to dope(s) that is used for performance enhancement. Or could the athletes be driven by ego and desire win. Or maybe just needing to compete at a certain standard in order to maintain the status and lifestyle they've become accustomed to.

What do old bicycle racers do.... write books, open bicycle shops?

I'd say some or all of the above are factors in the decision to dope.

Given a choice between working on an assembly line for 35 hours per week earning relatively low wages compared to earning higher wages as a professional rider might be a factor.

Getting to podium and kiss the attractive promotion girls is a factor.

Fame and doors it opens when you win is a factor.

The material goods that one can buy with the prize money won is another factor.

 

[Dave Cutter]

Originally Posted by limerickman .
Given a choice between working on an assembly line for 35 hours per week earning relatively low wages compared to earning higher wages as a professional rider might be a factor.

Fear of failure and poverty, vs ambition, fame, sex, and money. Doesn't matter whether its sports, rock and roll, business, or politics. The temptations are all the same and opportunities to cheat are always there as well.

Cycling's doping problem doesn't belong to cycling. These are human failures.

For me... The assembly line isn't one that my mind would conjure up as fearful or failure. Assembly can seem much like spinning for some people. Every athlete knows mind numbing repetitive training (work). Although currently out of favor in western cultures... factories are honest, productive work.

 

[limerickman]

Originally Posted by Dave Cutter .



Fear of failure and poverty, vs ambition, fame, sex, and money. Doesn't matter whether its sports, rock and roll, business, or politics. The temptations are all the same and opportunities to cheat are always there as well.

Cycling's doping problem doesn't belong to cycling. These are human failures.

For me... The assembly line isn't one that my mind would conjure up as fearful or failure. Assembly can seem much like spinning for some people. Every athlete knows mind numbing repetitive training (work). Although currently out of favor in western cultures... factories are honest, productive work.

Factory work is honest work.

The point I was trying to make is that the wages for working in a factory compared to having a lucrative cycling contract with win bonus's, endorsements etc is massive.

 

[Dave Cutter]

Originally Posted by limerickman .

The point I was trying to make is that the wages for working in a factory compared to having a lucrative cycling contract with win bonus's, endorsements etc is massive.

Oh yeah... I think (and had thought) we're in complete agreement. What is enough... is a personally thing or something (I am not really sure). The addiction may be that there is never enough (for some). No contract big enough, no title glorious enough, no fame would be famous enough. I think what drives them to dope is more than normal ambition.... or normal fear.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Fear of failure and poverty, vs ambition, fame, sex, and money. Doesn't matter whether its sports, rock and roll, business, or politics. The temptations are all the same and opportunities to cheat are always there as well.

Cycling's doping problem doesn't belong to cycling.

Truth.

These are human failures.

Sometimes, not so much failure as just a plan gone sour.

Look at all the dopers/cheaters/etc. that never get busted. And the multitude that have doped since the very first races.

If WADA/UCI sanctioned every doper in the peloton, the entry list for the next grand tour sure would look...anemic (pun intended).

Cyclist/politicians/NFL/MLB/soccer/Wall Street bankers & stock brokers have been cheating since the first shmuck found he could get ahead of the rest.

Perhaps not so much "human failure" as human NATURE?

As to The Cobra...like most cyclists, he's too much of a dumbass to even know his sorry schemes were less than a decent USAC Cat. II would pull.

And entering sportives/gran fondos? That's just beyond retarded.