Riccardo Riccò quits cycling at age 27

Riccardo Riccò announced that he is quitting professional cycling, after having just recovered from what looked like a blood transfusion gone wrong. The 27-year-old Italian was fired from the Vacansoleil team and seems to escape a longer suspension from the sport by saying good-bye. Riccò already served a doping suspension for EPO usage in the 2008 Tour de France.

Riccò wants to continue to bicycle, but only for his own enjoyment. "I don't want to return to racing. Never. I have turned the page," he told Italian Gazzetta dello Sport. "The world of cycling is disgusting, it made me vomit." The latter statement was not in reference to his recent hospital visit, where it was written that he had given himself a blood transfusion. Things went wrong and he was transferred to hospital in critical condition.

Riccò denies that he said something about a blood transfusion to the doctors at the hospital who treated him in February. "I have the files from the clinic and there is nothing like that written." The Italian is at loggerheads with the statements by one of the doctors. "He says something, I say something else. We will see who is right when all is analyzed." Riccò doesn't want to exclude he said strange things in his difficult physical state. "I don't remember much from that day."

Returning to regular cycling after his February scare is not a problem. "They told me that I could return like before. " But he has decided to quit racing. "I am not demoralized and I won't miss cycling."

There was one thing he wanted to make clear. "Mine is not a case of doping; they didn't find me positive, but I have already been condemned." For Riccò, there is no question that he can find something else to do. "So far cycling has been my life, but it isn't the only thing that exists. I can become a bartender!"

The Italian says that he is ready to take on responsibilities. "I want to start working, like so many people do. I have a family and a son, I have to look after them."