Riccardo Riccò
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Date: 21/01/2022

Riccardo Riccò, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10110361 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Italian_Giro_d'Italia_stage_winners
#Italian_male_cyclists
#Sportspeople_from_the_Province_of_Modena
#1983_births
#Living_people
#Italian_Tour_de_France_stage_winners
#Doping_cases_in_cycling
#Italian_sportspeople_in_doping_cases
#Banned_sportspeople
Riccardo Riccò （born 1 September 1983） is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who is suspended from all competition until 2024.
He was previously ejected from the 2008 Tour de France for doping violations and suspended.
Riccò returned to competition in late 2010, but in February 2011 he was fired by his team, Vacansoleil–DCM, after he became seriously ill allegedly through a self-administered autologous blood transfusion.
He then signed to UCI Continental team Meridiana–Kamen.
On 19 April 2012 it was announced that he had been suspended for 12 years effectively ending his career.
Born in Formigine, Riccò joined UCI ProTeam Saunier Duval–Prodir in 2006 after two successful seasons as an amateur rider, during which he won the Settimana Bergamasca.
Prior to joining the team he tried to become a professional with Ceramica Panaria–Navigare in 2005 but was not allowed because several blood tests revealed his hematocrit levels exceeded those acceptable.
Saunier Duval's sportif director, Mauro Gianetti, suggested he spend a week in the UCI laboratory in Lausanne to prove that his blood values were natural.
Further exhaustive tests by the UCI confirmed that Riccò's hematocrit level was naturally over 50%.
This has since been questioned however when, on 17 July 2008, it was revealed that Riccò had a non negative test for EPO, the hematocrit boosting drug, following the Tour de France stage 4 time trial at Cholet.
It has since been suggested by fellow professional rider Jérôme Pineau that Riccò openly doped even as a junior rider.
Riccò's breakthrough came during the 2007 Tirreno–Adriatico, when he won two consecutive stages and the ...