Italian rider Riccardo Ricco was fired by Saunier-Duval on Friday for testing positive for the banned blood-booster EPO during the Tour de France.
The team said in a statement that it felt it had been a “victim” of irresponsible behavior and denied any involvement in any doping practices.
The team also fired rider Leonardo Piepoli for “violation of the team’s ethical code.”
A team spokesman declined to elaborate.
Team executive Mauro Gianetti expressed “surprise and bitterness” at the news that Ricco had tested positive and said he was sorry to “have been deceived and trusting those who didn’t deserve it.”
He said the team has always monitored its athletes carefully.
“Despite all of our efforts — trusting the effectiveness of internal and external tests — we haven’t been able to avoid this absurd situation and today, as a team, we feel like victims,” Gianetti said.
The team said such behavior put at risk sponsors’ investors that are worth millions of euros. Saunier-Duval had already withdrawn from the Tour de France and suspended all of its activities after Ricco was found positive.
Ricco, who was held overnight by police, was released under judicial watch on Friday after French officials filed preliminary charges against him.
“I slept in jail and then the magistrate listened to all I had to say,” Ricco told Italy’s RAI state TV after being released. “Then they searched my bag, but they didn’t find anything except the usual vitamins we all use, so they decided to send me home.”
Ricco said he would see his lawyer yesterday and get started on his defense. He said he was not surprised by the team’s decision to fire him.
“It’s natural. It’s the minimum. It’s the routine for the teams, that’s what they have to do,” Ricco said. “I’ll be back. I’ll be back stronger than before.”
Ricco, a 24-year-old Italian, won two Tour stages this year. He was the runner-up in the Giro d’Italia and is the biggest name among three cyclists involved in doping cases at this year’s Tour.
He won the sixth and ninth stages and was ninth overall before the start of Thursday’s stage — 2 minutes, 29 seconds behind race leader Cadel Evans of Australia.
Piepoli won the 10th stage of the Tour.
Pierre Bordry, the head of France’s anti-doping agency, said on Friday that Ricco tested positive for CERA, or continuous erythropoietin receptor activator, an advanced version of the blood booster EPO.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
RSS