Italian rider Riccardo Riccò appears to be out of the woods as far as his health is concerned, although he has been advised to continue resting as he recovers from heart and lung infections. The suspended Vacansoleil rider was released from hospital today, almost two weeks after being admitted in a serious condition.
He is understood to have given himself a transfusion using blood that had been stored in his home refrigerator for 25 days. His body went into shock, he reportedly suffered kidney failure, and he needed emergency treatment. Some reports suggest that he was close to dying.
Although Riccò is over the first part of his battle, he nevertheless faces a difficult time ahead. Investigations have been opened up against him; on Monday, it was confirmed that he is formally under investigation by the prosecutor of Mondena for alleged violation of Article 9 of the law concerning doping. Italian national Olympic committee CONI and the UCI will also be keen to determine what happened.
In addition to that, his team have suspended him and if it is shown that he did indeed break anti-doping regulations, he will be both sacked and handed was is expected to be a lifetime ban from the sport.
Riccò already served a 20 month ban for taking the third general EPO product CERA during the 2008 Tour de France. He pledged to race clean upon his return, but it appears that resolution went out the window at some point in time, leading to a return to his old ways.