After spending the night in the gendarmerie in Palmiers, France, Riccardo Ricco' was transported to the court of of Foix this morning by 15 gendarmes for two court hearings. The first one was in front of a criminal judge about his epo positive, then he faced another judge regarding possession of illicit products. In the first hearing, Ricco' was released in his own recognaissance, while the second hearing produced no proof of illicit substances as only vitamins were found in his hotel room. Ricco' was released by the gendarmes at 4:45pm on Friday and headed off to Italy with his girlfriend Vania Rossi and his sister and uncle, who had arrived Friday morning.

After his release. Alessandra Di Stefano of RAI-TV spoke to Riccardo Ricco' in a roadside rest stop near Toulouse. A bitter and disappointed Ricco', who was fired from Saunier Duval-Scott earlier in the day along with his teammate Leonard Piepoli told Di Stefano "I'm innocent. I never took EPO. Now I want to go to Italy and see the counter analysis and talk to my lawyer. I want to thank all the people who have supported me and I'll be back and be stronger than ever."

Earlier on Friday, Saunier Duval fired both Ricco and Piepoli. Team manager Mauro Gianetti said in a statement that Ricco had infringed the team's code of ethics.  Ricco's Italian teammate Leonardo Piepoli was also sacked. Gianetti commented that "I spoke to Piepoli today and he didn't convince me that he was telling the truth. So I decided there and then to fire him. Maybe it was a mistake and if so, I'll pay for it. In any case if a team manager doesn't trust a rider anymore, it's over." As for rumors of doping positives for Piepoli and Cobo, respectively 1st and 2nd on Monday's Stage 10 at Hautacam, Gianetti said "we have no information on this at all."