Ghost Of Pantani Haunts Tour As Ricco Tests Positive

In yet another dark day for the Tour de France, up and coming superstar Riccardo Ricco was thrown out of the race after testing positive for EPO. In a move more honourable than that of their former team-mate Saunier-Duval have withdrawn from the race, taking stage winner Leonardo Piepoli, Top 10 rider Juan Jose Cobo, and King of the Mountains leader David De La Fuente with them in the process.

The positive test by Ricco is a stake in the heart of all cycling fans around the world. He burst onto the scene in a manor which suggested he was the new king of cycling. A new, clean, athlete that could drag cycling back to its rightful place in the upper echelon of world sports after the doping controversies that have plagued the sport, and especially the Tour, for the last decade. Ten years on from the Festina affair and we are almost back where we started.

Ricco often stated how he admired former Italian cycling legend Marco Pantani. His story now follows an eerily similar script to the ill fated Il Pirata. Riccco will no longer be remembered for his dynamic attacks up the slopes of Super Besse and the Col d'Aspin in this years tour, but rather for the chemical laboratories which inspired those efforts. While Ricco is now as good as dead to the sport of cycling, let us hope his life does not now follow a similar path to Pantani's who slipped into a spiral of drugs and depression that eventually led to his death in 2004.

Oh, there was a race on today too. Stage 12 from Lavelanet to Narbonne ended in a bunch sprint and not suprisingly Mark Cavendish won - again! The performances of the young Brit at this years tour have been a bright spark to coutner the dark stain of Ricco's antics. Sprinters generally build up their strength in the weights room rather than the laboratory. But as one door closes another one generally opens and in losing one great young hope for the sport it is clear another one has been revealed in Cavendish. Already 3 stage wins in the Tour to go with 2 in the Giro. Perhaps an Olympic crown on the road awaits (he already has one on the track!) - cycling as a sport could sure use that. None of the favourites lost time on the day as the peleton finished together. Sebastian Lang inherits the tainted polka dot jersey as new leader of the King of the Mountains competition while the white jersey moves on to the shoulders of another young Italian Vincenzo Nibali. Let us hope he doesn't disgrace it as the previous wearer did. Oscar Freire increased his lead in the points competition beating home rivals Thor Hushovd and Kim Kirchen in the final sprint. However, Cavendish may find himself falling into the Green Jersey if we end up with any more bunch sprints in upcoming stages.

In closing, one positive on this dark day is that cycling appears to be winning the fight. In the last 3 years superhuman and unbelivable performances from Floyd Llandis, Michael Rasmussen, Alexander Vinokourov, and now Ricco have been revealed for what they truly were. Inhuman performances. In an interview with cyclingnews.com, David Millar sums up my thoughts exactly:

"It is bullshit... I think it's unfortunate that when things look too good to be true, generally they are too good to be true - and he did look pretty f***ing good!"

And while seeing riders like Cadel Evans, Denis Menchov, and Carlos Sastre drag their tired bodies up the high mountain passes may not be as exciting as seeing a juiced up Marco Pantani or Riccardo Ricco explode away from the peleton in a devastating attack, it does return the Tour to what it is meant to be. A hard, tough, energy sapping, 3 week slog around one of the most beautiful countries on earth.

Vive Le Tour!

Yellow Jersey - Cadel Evans
Green Jersey - Oscar Freire
Polka Dot Jersey - Sebastian Lang
White Jersey - Vincenzo Nabali