Raging about Ricco

At this stage of the game we don't exactly know what happened to Riccardo Ricco. All we have are pieces of a larger personal story waiting to be stitched together.

At this stage of the game we don't exactly know what happened to Riccardo Ricco. All we have are pieces of a larger personal story waiting to be stitched together.

Based on the reports this looks like a a simple case of doping gone bad and this is how it's being treated by all and sundry, seemingly a case in isolation.

His mistake was to self medicate and screw up the result. Something that almost cost him his life and has almost certainly cost him his career.

So today, Ricco is the whipping-boy de jour of the sport - one that seems to be desperately looking for a single scapegoat to hang the sins of cycling on. It's all about him.

But what are we going to do when the next guy comes along? As he surely must. What happens if that rider is a huge fan favourite?

Like many I'm struggling to place Ricco in an understandable context, but a view that I absolutely reject is one that demonises Ricco without taking other issues into consideration.

The web, Twitter, article comments and Forums are aflame with fear and loathing for the 'The Cobra".

Eurosport commentator David Harmon appeared to sum up the general feeling with his comments about locking Ricco up and throwing the key into the river Thames - he then neatly segued back to his stage three Qatar racing commentary with a declaration that we were witnessing a clean peloton.

I laughed...ruefully.

Even I took the piss out of Ricco's seeming addiction to the contents of a blood bag and the needle in my end-of-year post.

"Riccardo Ricco will get busted for the usual. Frustrated Italian anti-doping prosecutors will attempt to suspend the entire country from involvement in cycling, for life."

If it were only so easy. I may have been right but I was also callous in showing a snarky disregard for Ricco's all too human failings.

I see performance based doping in cycling as no different to a wider drug problem in society. And hope that it can eventually be dealt in a more measured and intelligent way.

Not with a 'war on drugs' approach and certainly not with a 'law and order' approach seemingly favoured by some hotheads on Twitter. We know how effective that has been when it comes to criminal drug issues.

Social substances like alcohol, coke, marijuana, amphetamines and a host of over the counter and prescribed drugs are the order of the day for millions around the world.

Many take them to escape whatever daily reality marks their lives and like professional cyclists many others use them to enhance their daily reality - one thing should be obvious to anyone who takes even a cursory look at society - we are heavily medicated.

There are also other elements at play in Ricco's recidivism into doping [if he ever stopped at all], elements that have to be included in any discussion about doping.

Doping may also be a symptom of mental illness. After all, what possesses anyone to do what he (and others) is alleged to have done? No sane person would take those risks.

Doping may also be a symptom of an illness in the sport. An illness that riders, soigneurs team directors, doctors and the UCI itself should take responsibility for.

Everyone has an opinion on race radios but try to talk to a pro cyclist about doping and you can see them looking for an escape route to the team bus.

Another important question is to ask what kind of world does someone like Ricco occupy which encourages him (and others) to do as he has done?

Currently we have three-time and seven time Tour de France champions in Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong embroiled in doping investigations.

The 1996 champion, Bjarne Riis is an admitted doper, the 1997 champion Jan Ullrich is similarly disgraced. The 1998 champion Marco Pantani? Gone and dead. 2006 winner Floyd Landis? Busted and broke.

Clearly Ricco isn't alone, something is seriously wrong. And locking riders up and throwing away the key isn't going to solve this any time soon.