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Riccardo Ricc\u00f2, cyclist banned for life for doping<\/p>\n
Ricc\u00f2 acknowledges the impact of his fall from grace: \u201cThey destroyed me, I went through tough times, fell into depression and other complicated situations, but I don\u2019t want to play the victim.\u201d For years, cycling was a painful memory: \u201cI got back on the bike three years ago, after ten in which it hurt to see my former rivals racing and winning. It reminded me of what I couldn\u2019t do. I didn\u2019t even watch the races.\u201d<\/p>\n
With time and professional help, his perspective has shifted: \u201cThen I began to process it, also thanks to therapy. Now I\u2019m at peace, even though the wound is still there.\u201d Today, cycling is no longer his profession, but it remains in his life as a hobby: \u201cI use apps to compare myself with the pros\u2019 times and I\u2019m still competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Italian also keeps a link to the sport through amateurs, whom he advises: \u201cBesides giving tips, I do some coaching. I know two or three things about cycling. I\u2019ve suffered and I\u2019ve won, so I said to myself: why not? I\u2019m coaching eight amateurs now, I enjoy it, it\u2019s my world.\u201d<\/p>\n
On his past, he doesn\u2019t dodge responsibility, though he frames the era: \u201cI\u2019m not looking for excuses and I accept my guilt, but over time many other cases have come out”.<\/p>\n
The Italian has also launched a stunning remark against two of his compatriots, some of Italy’s most successful riders of the 21st century. “If you look at the list of riders, all the strongest have been caught for doping, except [Damiano] Cunego and [Paolo] Bettini”.<\/p>\n
“When there\u2019s business involved, that\u2019s how it works.\u201d In the same vein, he claims he was part of a widespread dynamic: \u201cI was doped when everyone was doped.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the most serious episodes of his career was the self-blood transfusion that nearly cost him his life, a practice he describes starkly: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the first time I\u2019d done it. I\u2019d been doing it for a year, because it was the only way not to test positive: you take your own blood and then put it back in.\u201d As he explains, it wasn\u2019t an isolated idea: \u201cI didn\u2019t invent it. Moser set the Hour Record in Mexico City and said publicly that he\u2019d done it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acting without weighing the risks<\/p>\n
Ricc\u00f2 admits he acted without weighing the risks: \u201cWith self-administered transfusions, it\u2019s something that can happen. I wasn\u2019t afraid and I did it carelessly. If I\u2019d injected cortisone immediately, nothing would have happened, but I didn\u2019t know and, at twenty, you feel omnipotent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding his lifetime ban, he argues that his situation was aggravated by a case in which, he says, he had no direct responsibility: \u201cI got caught up in a trafficking case involving doping substances that I had nothing to do with, and I proved it in court, but sporting justice wanted to remove me for good and it succeeded.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Riccardo Ricc\u00f2, cyclist banned for life for doping Ricc\u00f2 acknowledges the impact of his fall from grace:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,184465,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-867678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-doping","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116336603880346221","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}