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Tour de France tainted by third drug scandal
 Riccardo Ricco is the highest-profile of the three riders so far ejected from this year’s Tour de France. |
A third cyclist has been kicked out of the 2008 Tour de France for drug use following a positive test by promising Italian rider Riccardo Ricco.
Ricco, who had won two stages in this month’s prestigious event, was taken off the Saunier-Duval team bus by police on Thursday and booed by spectators, the Associated Press reported.
Saunier-Duval subsequently pulled all its riders, including eighth-placed Juan Jose Cobo and stage 10 winner Leonardo Piepoli, out of the race as it sought to investigate the situation.
“It’s a team decision not to start the race,” the team’s sporting director Matxin Fernandez told AP. “He’s our leader, we can’t act as if nothing happened. We suspend the activities of the team until we know what happened.”
The 24-year-old Ricco, considered one of the world’s top climbers, tested positive for the banned blood-booster EPO after the fourth stage, a time trial in the western town of Cholet.
Ahead of Thursday’s 12th stage, Ricco was placed ninth overall — two minutes and 29 seconds behind overall leader Cadel Evans of Australia.
He had won the sixth and ninth stages and was top of the King of the Mountains and Young Rider categories to confirm his status as one of the sport’s rising stars.
Ricco came into the French event in fine form, having finished second overall at his home Giro d’Italia.
He followed Spanish duo Moises Duenas Nevado and Manuel Beltran in being kicked out of the race following positive drug tests.
Duenas Nevado, of the Barloworld team, was also busted for using EPO on Wednesday, while veteran Liquigas rider Beltran was ejected last Friday after testing positive for the same performance-enhancing substance.
The controversies have provided even more embarrassment for race organizers, already reeling after Floyd Landis was stripped of his 2006 title for steroid use and Michael Rasmussen was kicked off while leading last year’s race for lying to his team to avoid a random drug test.
Source: CNN
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