In his first step on the road to redemption, Ricardo Ricco has admitted doping at the Tour de France and has apologized to teammates and fans.

Ricco was nabbed for a new generation of EPO, called CERA, after winning two stages in the Tour. In an appearance before the Italian Olympic Committee, Ricco admitted his misdeeds and declined to have his B-sample tested. No need to bother. It would have been positive and confirmed the A-sample positive.

Or would it?

Ricco’s pre-tour blood test showed abnormal levels, and he was targeted by the French anti-doping agency for testing throughout the Tour. He was tested 12 times, and only two came up positive, when, as Ricco noted, in theory all 12 should have been positive.

Athletes and even scientiest have debated the reliability of testing, and only two confirmed positives on 12 samples that should be positive is a horrible result. In Ricco’s case, only 16.67 percent of his samples proved to be tested accurately — 83.3 percent were wrong!

Reverse the situation, and assume a clean rider gets tested 12 times, and only two samples come back as negative. That would mean 10 positives for a clean rider, and a certain doping conviction regardless of how hard the guy would fight it to clear his name. Dude would be Richard Kimbled, with absolutely no chance of exonerating himself. The pundits and authorities would claim that 10 positives in 12 tests is without a doubt confirmation of guilt, when in the case of a clean rider, it would be a huge miscarriage of justice. Is it a fair system when there’s an 83.3 percent chance the testing could be wrong? (And folks wonder why I still am not convinced Landis doped in ‘06. This is why.)

That said, bully for Ricco for being a man and admitting his guilt. As is said, the truth shall set you free. As David Millar of Garmin-Chipotle has demonstrated, the truth is the first step and quickest path to redemption, and perhaps some good will come from Ricco’s admission, whether he follows Millar’s lead and becomes the reformed doper of his generation or prompts more study and research in improving the reliaility of testing.

Unfortunately, Ricco’s doping has done a lot more damage than Millar’s did. Millar didn’t cost his team its sponsor (Cofidis), or cause it withdraw from the Tour de France. In Ricco’s case, Saunier Duval withdrew its sponsorship, and team left the Tour, costing Ricco’s teammates their chance to compete.

On the plus side, Ricco exonerated the team by saying he acted on his own, outside of the team’s influence, and with Scott, an American bicycle company, stepping up to replace Saunier Duval as primary sponsor and bringing on American Beef as a co-sponsor, it appears the team will be able to survive Ricco’s doping.

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