Where did you buy your time machine Dan?

Ricco does make me laugh, I've got to admit.

Still, as a learned forumite put it, Cav doesn't seem to have a problem having an ex-doper as his sprint mentor. One who waited to confess until when he couldn't be punished either. ;-)

Well, can we play back some of Ricco's quotes in 2008. One was along the lines of "83% of the peloton are useless". Seriously should we starting bashing Mark for standing up against a banned rider. I get that Mark is a little outspoken, but thats fine, i like it. The Caven-who quote riled me very slightly.

Oh i disagree with Ricco being a cover star, but thats long behind me now.

Ricco, Ricco,...

I admire his ability but man, that mouth... should have just put his own shoes in it...

Oh, by the way, where is the cobra this days...??? Hiss... sss.... ss.. s.. Hmm.... sound like a flat tyre. Arrogant bastard!!!

Procycling, good on you guys for covering the good (not Ricco), the ugly (yes, Ricco) and the bad (definitely Ricco).

Sign out...

ricco the cobra eh ? sounds more like the snake out of junglebook or should i say cartoon character !

What really amazes me is that teams will have these guys back - to me the only way to get rid of doping is for those who have been caught to be out of work when their ban is over, not just waltz back in to a team (even if it is at a lower level) - Basso for instance should never have been able to step back in to a Protour team!

Im saying nothing against Ricco, he won me a fantasy tour (along with two other chaps from Gerolsteiner!)

if all the riders who had doped were not allowed to ride again, i dont think we would have many riders about ! or is that a cynical view ?

you are right brakelever,all of the peloton bar a few are drugged up,and cavendish is the biggest dickhead in the peloton,bikeradar should have a poll for most hated rider!surely cav would win that clean. "Arrogant bastard" what about cav?he has no respect for riders full stop!

@tomilinski1 they walk back because they still have lots of publicity and that's what sponsors want. So when you put them on the front cover of your magazine...

I hope no team signs him. Or if one does, it's the squeakiest of squeaky clean squads who will test him every single day and fit CCTV in his house to prove his innocence.

TWAT!

Aaah dammnit - Moomaloid beat me to it.

I understand the pressure these guys must be under, you need to win, need to progress, only the best win, the team boss on your back to do better, the few chances to get into protour teams, the pressure to take the chances....all this on the shoulders of mere kids 18years old and so on.

It would be good to see teams trying to look after the younger kids, so they don't see drugs as the way forwards. It's going to be hard for these kids, but having in place a support network might be the way forward.

I would support a 2 strikes and out ruling. Caught once and get banned, caught a second time and get a lifetime ban. People make mistakes, but doping more than once is not a mistake.

I'm glad we have the blood passport system. I think cycling is now possibly one of the cleanest sports, and I can bet is far cleaner than football, horse racing, etc.

I like the new name for Ricco - The Goblin....

I knew the day he attacked in the tour climbed the mountain on a 53x19 and then time trialed in on a 53x11 and won the stage he was doping...

All the team were.

A life ban for such shameless disrespect for his sport is the only answer.

that includes all riders who DOPE...

A life ban should mean a life ban..

Cheers. Why not crawl back under your stone.

No chance of the TDF being boring if Cav did get off his bike and smash the little weasel's face in. You just have to look at the bloke to see that he's a snidey little shit.

And I have no doubt that he'll do it again.

What pressure are they under? They get to ride bikes for a good living with all the best kit. Being under pressure is not being able to pay your mortgage or put food on the table.

beckcd, they needs the results to get next years contract, otherwise they would have no job and be unable to put food on the table and pay the mortgage, i am not saying doping is ok just pointing out the pressure you fail to see, i think there should be a life ban for dopers, it would make them think twice wouldn't it?

All we need now is Batty Bat, Artfull Owl, Toad and Ratty Rat and Hissing Sid or should that be Cobra will be at a sticky end.

Wait, here we are talking about people who, as a profession, play!

Sorry, but if you earn a living, any living, even peanuts, for playing a game, you should be thankful. You cheat? you are out. Forever.

Find a proper job and thank god you are still able to.

End of.

No amount of drugs would allow me to do my job well. I am good at my job and that's why I do it. If I were useless at my job I would do something else.

These guys are good at spinning legs hard. For a while. Then they realise they are humans and can't spin forever.

My suggestion? If you like the sport but can't perform, become a manager, or a tester for a magazine, or a mechanic, or a salesman. Whatever. Just don't go and cheat!

One of the problems with these tours is that they are almost inhuman, and to top it off people like to see the "OMG, What an attack?" and then get a boner. Lets admit it, the same marketing environment pushes them to do such things,

Has anyone noticed how boring tours are now since the organization is super strict about drugs and must are not using it...

You go to youtube and when watching old flicks of different tours in the 80s and early 90s most of the replies are...

"those are true cyclists"

"the good ol days"

Similar to boxing, who knows how many fights had plaster of paris in their gloves, but now it all boiled out until the truth came out, now boxing is no fun anymore. Honestly, let them kill each other and lets open a few cold ones and enjoy the ridiculous attacks, the I left you in the dust and let their ego just inflate until it does not fit in the 52" LED idiot box and then we can all live happily ever after, LOL!

Cheers!

Long Live Lance!

Ricardo Ricco looks like he meeds a kebab and a trip to the gym.

Taking drugs to win (should) = execution

I never mentioned doping, or the justification of it I just said - and this is a personal opinion - that they're not under the pressure that people living in today's world are under.

The sport of cycling will never be rid of drugs because there pressure on riders to do well to satisfied the sponsors, and where there`s big moneys involved there will always be cheats. How many times have you gone to a race and a nobody wins, and whats the first thing people say " i bet he`s on something?" there seems to be a stigma attached to riders who do well, look at Lance Armstrong there still trying to do him for drugs from his tour wins. If the tour riders want to dabble in drugs that`s there career down the pan. I think most of these teams must encourage it to riders with the attitued "of you will be ok they won`t find out or test you" opps they found out, and the shit hits the fan.

At least some riders are making it clear that dopers are not welcome in their ranks. It was not always thus - quite the opposite, in fact.

I had to laugh at Riccò's comments: "He’s really gone overboard this time…” and “What’s his name again?… Cavendish, that’s it”.

Ha ha. He's playing, he wants to taunt them, as well as loving the attention. That doesn't mean he will or won't dope again, we'll have to wait and see. He *may* even change his tune once he has to ride alongside some of these people every week.

I think its great you gave ricco the cover. Why would you feel guilty? It's not as if your promoting doping. You could shovel the masses the slop they want. Or you could try and take a different angle. I think Cav is great. His quotes are fun. But so can riccos. And well, like it or not. The guy is interesting. If you had one of the typical players on your cover, I might not of bought it. I'm tired of the usal quotes e.g. great team, bikes, team work, new challenges, etc etc that have become cliche in cycling interviews. This was something different.

Thanks

Unrepentant little twats like Ricco will always find a way back into a top team ,for exactly the same reasons the tosser wormed his way onto the cover the magazine ! PUBLICITY AND MONEY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great bit of free advertising for Pro-Cycling (sorry Pro-Doping )

Sell copies at any cost hey guys !!

Has Ricco ever competed without being drugged? Probably not. In which case, he's probably shite. Cavendish is right, thegeneral above is talking out of his saddle sore.

And the chances of Ricco making a comeback have surely taken another dive after his missus tested positive for CERA at the end of January. Ah, how quaint, his n hers designer drugs for those who can't quite hack it. What a fairytale. The Kurt and Courtney of cycling. Or maybe they did it to make their kid a natural CERA producer?