ITALIAN Riccardo Ricco admitted yesterday that he took the blood-booster EPO before this month's Tour de France.
Ricco, who tested positive in a doping control after the fourth stage of the three-week race, now could face a two-year ban after appearing before the Italian Olympic Committee's antidoping prosecutor.
"I came here and I have explained the error
I made, I think you all know 13 days ago the position that I was in, I think I have made a good gesture for everyone to have admitted my mistakes," said Ricco.
The 24-year-old also warned that testing procedures needed to be looked at. "During the tour they made a lot of tests, they made ten tests in about 13 legs, two were positive and in fact in theory all the tests should have been positive, therefore the method needs to be checked," he said.
When results of the positive test came out on 17 July, a French prosecutor said Ricco had denied any wrongdoing.
The rider was kicked out of the race and sacked by his Saunier-Duval team, who left the Tour as a whole.
Italian media have speculated that because he has now confessed, Ricco may receive a discount to the usual two-year ban for positive tests.
As well as sporting sanctions, Ricco is facing a criminal probe in France. Under recent French legislation, he is liable for possession and use of drugs and could receive a maximum two years in prison and a 3,750 (£2,946) fine.
Fellow Italian Leonardo Piepoli was sacked by Saunier Duval at the same time as Ricco despite not failing a drugs test.
He appears before the Italian anti-doping prosecutor today after team officials said they were unhappy with his answers when he was questioned about doping. Piepoli has made no comment.
Ricco won two stages at the Tour before his departure and finished second in the Giro d'Italia in May.
Cycling has been rocked by numerous doping scandals in recent years with several Italian riders involved.
British rider David Millar said a rift between cycling's leadership and race organisers is leaving riders isolated and vulnerable in a sport already burdened by doping scandals.
But Millar, who was banned from cycling for two years in 2004 after admitting to using EPO earlier in his career, also said a "cultural shift" is under way that could finally end the cheating.
"Cycling is an easy target in that it is there is very little solidarity across the board," said the Scot.
"At the moment we are easy targets because we are unable to defend ourselves as a whole."
Because of this fractured leadership, Millar said riders have to fend for themselves, adding that football, golf and tennis typically show more unity. "In cycling, if you upset one person, you have made quite a lot of friends," Millar said. "It's very two-faced."
"We had a doping culture" in the past that encouraged an "omerta," or code of silence, Millar said. "In years to come, the cultural shift will allow that there is nothing" for cyclists to hide.
The full article contains 531 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
