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CAUGHT: Ricco (above right) being led away by French policemen amid the predictable swarm of media, while his Saunier Duval team wait at the start line. The team later pulled out of the Tour. -- PHOTO: AP
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LAVELANET (FRANCE) - THE Tour de France was thrown into crisis again yesterday, when Italian rider Riccardo Ricco became the third person this year to test positive for the performance enhancer erythropoietin (EPO) - cycling's most famous drug.
His Saunier Duval team withdrew from the Tour and suspended all activities, after news of the rider's test for the banned blood-booster.
For the third year in a row, the cycling's premier race has been marred by doping.
Last year, Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for a blood transfusion. Cristian Moreni was caught using testosterone and Iban Mayo - also with Saunier Duval - tested positive for EPO, before being cleared by the Spanish cycling federation.
Two years ago, American rider Floyd Landis was stripped of his title after using synthetic testosterone.
'I'm glad they got caught. The Tour needs to continue and get to the finish in Paris,' International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid said.
Ricco, a 24-year-old Italian who won two Tour stages this year, tested positive for the performance enhancer after the fourth stage, a time trial in the western town of Cholet.
His urine sample also contained the banned substance Cera (Continuous Erythropietin Receptor Activator).
Pierre Bordry, the head of the French anti-doping agency, announced the result.
It led to the team's withdrawal shortly before the start of yesterday's 12th stage - a 168.5km trek from Lavelanet to Narbonne.
'It's a team decision not to start the race,' Saunier Duval sporting director Matxin Fernandez said. 'He's our leader, we can't act as if nothing happened.'
Ricco was taken off the Saunier Duval team bus by police ahead of the stage and booed by spectators. He was the runner-up in the Giro d'Italia and is the biggest name among the three cyclists involved in doping cases at this year's Tour.
He won the sixth and ninth stages and was ninth overall before yesterday's stage - 2min 29sec behind race leader Cadel Evans of Australia.
Following his victory in the ninth stage, Ricco said: 'I have had high haematocrit levels ever since I was little. I hope soon that everybody will stop speaking about that.'
He is reported to have a naturally high haematocrit level, above 50, meaning the volume of oxygen-rich red blood cells in his blood is higher than the norm.
The UCI introduced a limit of 50 in 1999, after many endurance athletes were found to be using the banned blood-booster EPO in dangerous proportions.
EPO increases the volume of red blood cells, pumping more oxygen into the blood to allow athletes to work harder and longer.
Haematocrit is widely cited as the principal level measured in doping analyses.
The news on Ricco came even as judicial officials continued to question Spanish rider Moises Duenas Nevado, who was expelled from the race on Wednesday. The Barloworld rider had tested positive for EPO after the fourth stage.
Gerard Aldige, the state prosecutor, said Nevado faced preliminary criminal charges for 'holding and using poisonous substances or plants' and 'prohibited importing of merchandise'.
Other substances were also found in his suitcases, including bags of blood, syringes, capsules and gels. Tests will be conducted to determine their composition.
Liquigas team rider Manuel Beltran - a former teammate of seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong - was the first rider to be kicked out of the Tour last Friday.
He was sent home to Spain after he also tested positive for EPO.
Yesterday, Mark Cavendish made cycling history when he became the first Briton to claim three stage wins in a single edition of the Tour de France.
The 23-year-old dominated a mass sprint at the end of the 12th stage, finishing ahead of Frenchman Sebastien Chavanel and Belgian Gert Steegmans.
Evans, of Silence, retained the race leader's yellow jersey with a 1sec lead over Luxembourg champion Frank Schleck, who rides for CSC.
ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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