Initially scheduled for this Friday April 1st, Riccardo Riccò’s hearing before the Italian Olympic Committee’s anti-doping agency CONI has been put off until April 13th.
The rider has requested an extension before the hearing and so it will take place a fortnight after the initial date.
The Italian rider was competing with the Vacansoleil-DCM team this year but was hospitalised in the days leading up the Tour of the Mediterranean. He was admitted in serious condition, and reportedly told a doctor that he had transfused his own blood, which had been stored for several weeks in his refrigerator.
Riccò has since denied making the admission, although the hospital has said that it stands over its staff and their professionalism, implying he is not being truthful.
Riccò previously tested positive for EPO CERA during the 2008 Tour de France. His two stage wins there were later removed, and he incurred a 20 month ban. He later had that sanction reduced to a year for cooperating with the investigators
He is facing a probable life ban from CONI over the latest incident. Riccò was fired by Vacansoleil-DMC on February 19th.