Riccardo Ricco facing lifetime ban after near-fatal blood mishap

Riccardo Ricco faces the end of his cycling career after an alleged blood-boosting mishap that nearly killed him.

The 27-year-old Italian — who was banned from racing for two years after testing positive at the scandal-plagued 2008 Tour de France — checked himself into hospital in Modena Sunday with a very high fever.

According to Italian news reports, Ricco told doctors that he had reinjected his own blood that had been stored in a refrigerator in his house.

This kind of autologous blood transfusion is known as blood boosting and raises the ratio of oxygen-carrying red cells in a rider’s blood. It’s banned, but difficult to detect. It’s also a criminal offence in Italy that can carry jail time, and police are looking into the matter.

La Gazzetta di Modena reports that Ricco’s father said his son suffered liver failure after the transfusion. Ricco is out of danger, but may have permanently damaged his liver.

He’s done more to his career. Ricco’s Vacansoleil-DCM team manager has said Ricco’s racing days are likely over if the reports are true. His team contract will be terminated, and a second doping offence will probably result in a five-year ban like the one handed to another Italian cyclist this week.

Former Lampre rider Lorenzo Bernucci, 31, admitted to doping after a police search of his house in April 2010 turned up drugs. Because he’d already tested positive in 2009, the Italian Olympic Committee announced Monday he’s banned from any involvement in the sport for five years.

Unusually, some of Bernucci’s family members were also punished. His wife, mother and father-in-law are each banned from certain sporting facilities and events in Italy for four years, and his brother is banned for three years.

Bernucci had originally claimed the drugs were theirs, but later said the doping was his responsibility alone.