Riccardo Ricco handed career-ending 12-year doping ban Ricco, 28, was given the ban by the National Anti-doping Tribunal earlier today after it accepted the Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping prosecutor's request after he was accused of giving himself a blood transfusion. An investigation concluded in September revealed through bacteriological analysis of Ricco's blood that his infection was caused by a failed blood transfusion. Following the incident Ricco was sacked by his Vacansoleil team. He then claimed he would quit cycling because it made him feel sick, however he later recanted and said he wanted to continue racing. Ricco had already served a two-year ban for doping during the 2008 Tour de France, during which he was found to have taken the banned blood-booster CERA. That was the year 'The Cobra' came to prominance, winning two stages and finishing second overall at the Giro d'Italia, although he courted controversy by proving to be an ungracious loser, claiming that he and not Alberto Contador had deserved to win due to his more attacking approach. He went on to win another pair of stages at the Tour de France but susequently tested positive for doping and was thrown out of the race, as well as fired by his then Saunier Duval team.