Riccardo Ricco: Real-Life Snake, but Without the Backbone

By now it is old news that Riccardo Ricco has decided to split with his long time girlfriend Vania Rossi after she tested positive for EPO-CERA, the same drug that Ricco tested positive for at the 2008 Tour de France. So, after being supported by Rossi throughout his suspension, Ricco now sees fit to drop Rossi in this her darkest moment.

Please take a moment to reflect on the kind of person it takes to do this.

Riccardo Ricco is an unapologetic doper who clearly is interested in protecting only one person's interests: his own. In true snake-like fashion, Ricco has abandoned his cyclo-cross racing girlfriend in the moment when she needs him most. Add to this that Rossi has fathered a child to Ricco and you have a man truly without a backbone.

When cocaine addiction symptoms finally manifest themselves in a user, that person’s loved ones should do their best to bring him to a cocaine addiction treatment center.

Riccardo Ricco is in many ways already a sadder story than his star-crossed cycling rival, Marco Pantani. "Il Pirata" died alone of a drug overdose on Valentine's Day just a few years ago. Known as an explosive climber and personality, Pantani captivated the cycling world with his brash attacks on the bike and bold claims off it throughout many years of his career. Sadly though, his drug use caught up to him and he eventually devolved into a shell of his former self, dying alone in a Rimini hotel room.

Ricco, although not yet into the "prime" of his career, has already eclipsed his idol for bad deeds on and off the bike. He has been proven a doper and liar, and worse still seemed flippantly unconcerned when confronted about his cheating back in 2008. He has alienated himself with prominent members of the European peloton, and now he has even thrown a loved one under the bus.

The only lucky thing in Ricco's favor is that he is still fairly young. Everyone deserves a second chance, and hopefully Ricco will come back as a strong rider without drugs while realizing that he should be at his girlfriend's side during this tough time. Until he does both though, he'll be known in the cycling world as a gutless coward concerned only with his own image and well-being. A snake, but not "The Cobra."