Tour de France dope quatro: Leonardo Piepoli sacked from the 2008 Tour by team; Ricco in jail

Looking for the Re-testing Tour de France link (17-Sept-2008)? Go here: link.  Sorry but this link was given incorrectly to a site.  The other link heads to the Tour de France re-testing post.

Older story below:

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Number four -- and counting -- gone from the 2008 Tour de France.  This time veteran cyclist Leonardo Piepoli ended up sacked by his team Suanier Duval-Scott for ethics violations, in conjunction with the doping violation of teammate Riccardo Ricco.  Ricco checked out a room in jail last night.  To Cycling News:

Riccardo Riccò and Leonardo Piepoli have both been fired by Saunier Duval-Scott for "doping practices", the team announced Friday. Team spokesman David Garcia told Reuters: "[Team manager]  Mauro Gianetti has lost faith in them and he decided to fire them from the team. They have been fired for doping practices."

The news follows Riccò's failed test for a third generation form of the blood boosting drug EPO and the team's subsequent departure from the Tour de France on Thursday morning.  Riccò spent Thursday night behind bars at a police station in Mirepoix, while the Saunier Duval bus was stopped and searched around 17.30 local time as it made its way from the race.

Riccò appeared in court in Foix on Friday morning to face charges relating to his failed test. The possession and use of banned substances is illegal under French law.

Piepoli, the winner of stage 10 to Hautacam, is not reported to have failed a drugs test, but the team decided to fire him after conducting an internal investigation. "[Gianetti] did a personal investigation and consequently lost faith in Riccò but also in Piepoli because of a violation of the team's ethics code," read a team statement.

This could be the wrong link.  Looking for the Retesting on the Tour story -- go here.

The new variation of EPO is known as CERA (Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator; trade name = Micera).  WADA was ahead of the testing curve on this drug.

Ricco's mother will not be happy about this next next part.

"All our riders gave us guarantees that they were clean," the statement added. "Riccò swore on his mother's head that he had never turned to illegal substances or means to improve his performance. Despite all the efforts made both internally and from outside the team we have failed to avoid this deplorable situation. We are the victims of the deceitful behaviour of those who put our sponsors' investments and the jobs of so many honest people at risk with the loathsome purpose of improving their cycling performance."

Thierry Leroy, a spokesman for title sponsor Saunier Duval, told French radio station RTL that the company would seriously consider its future investment in the cycling team. "It is highly probable that we will pull out of sponsoring cycling following this affair," said         Leroy.

He added that Saunier Duval would be prepared to launch legal action against the team if proof was found of organised doping practices.

CERA is a new form of EPO; apparently the riders thought that the EPO attached to polyethylene glycol would not be detectable.  Wrong.