Riccardo Ricco was detained by police and booed by spectators before today’s 12th stage of the Tour de France cycling grand tour. Ricco makes the third bust of riders involved with the performance enhancer EPO, cycling’s drug of choice. Ricco tested positive for CERA, an EPO alternative.
His Saunier-Duval team withdrew from the Tour and suspended all activities. The team bus was detained by gendarmes.
Ricco tested positive after the fourth stage, a time trial in Cholet. The Giro d’Italia runner-up won the sixth and ninth stages of this Tour and was ninth overall entering Thursday.
Drug testing by organizers of the Tour de France has become extremely rigorous after years of turning a blind eye to the performance enhancing drugs that are evolving as fast as they can be detected.
EPO or erythropoietin, is manufactured by Amgen for the treatment of anemia. CERA, or continuous erythropoietin receptor activator, is manufactured by Roche, and Amgen claims it is an infringement on their patent. Johnson and Johnson also make a drug called Procrit to increase red blood cell production in the treatment of fatigue and anemia.
These drugs have found their way into professional sports. The head of the French anti-doping agency, announced the result shortly before the stage. Saunier Duval sporting director said the team suspension will remain in place until it’s clear precisely what happened.
Last year, two teams withdrew and race leader Michael Rasmussen of Rabobank was kicked out just days before the end for lying about his whereabouts to avoid pre-Tour testing.
This year, organizers pledged a tougher approach regarding drug cheats. Eight specially trained chaperones shadow riders after each stage, even climbing onto team buses, to ensure that cyclists go to doping checks.
Riccardo Ricco had come under suspicion about what he says is his naturally high hematocrit level — the volume of red blood cells. High hematocrit levels can suggest EPO use but do not confirm it.
Ricco has said his idol was Marco Pantani, who in 1998 became the last Italian to win the Tour. Pantani faced doping allegations throughout his career. He died of a cocaine overdose in 2004.
Ricco’s ouster came as judicial officials continued to question Spanish rider Moises Duenas Nevado, who was expelled from the race Wednesday. Duenas Nevado was stopped by police in Tarbes, at a hotel where his Barloworld team was staying. Police also searched his hotel room.
Gerard Aldige, the state prosecutor in Tarbes, told The Associated Press that police found "numerous small medical materials like syringes, needles, and medical drip bags, which theoretically a cyclist should not have in his room."
Liquigas team rider Manuel Beltran, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong, was kicked out of the Tour and sent home to Spain on July 11. In addition to Beltran, Floyd Landis, Roberto Heras and Tyler Hamilton — all former US Postal riders during Armstrong’s seven Tour from 1999-05 — failed doping tests after quitting the Armstrong’s team.
Lance Armstrong has been rumored to have used PEDs, which he strongly denies, and he never failed a test before retiring in 2005.
