Former Italian rider Riccardo Ricco has been found guilty in yet another doping investigation and has received a lifetime doping ban from Italian anti-doping authorities.

In 2015, Ricco was caught red-handed by Italian police in a parking lot in the Tuscan town of Livorno with two dealers and accused of trying to buy EPO and testosterone, according to Italian media reports.

He no longer has a racing license, but the Tribunale Nazionale Antidoping (National Antidoping Commission) has given him a lifetime ban. Ricco was also ordered to pay a fine of 4,000 euros and costs of 378 euros.

According to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the 2015 police investigation that tormented Ricco and led to his indefinite ban is called "Pista Ciclabile" - "Operation Bike Path."

Italian anti-doping authorities banned many of those involved, including another former player and a former professional soccer player, for a total of 100 years. Drugs were allegedly stolen from hospitals and sold to many athletes.

Ricco won a stage at the Giro d'Italia and was the best young rider of 2008, but he tested positive for the blood-boosting drug CERA at that year's Tour de France. He was banned for two years and made a comeback in 2010, but his career came to an end in 2011 when he was rushed to the hospital

after allegedly having a blood transfusion with an infected blood bag he kept in his home refrigerator.

He was suspended for 12 years, but continued to ride his bicycle. He was invited to several Gran Fondo events and announced his record attempt on cycling's biggest climb; after the 2015 charges, Ricco moved to Tenerife and opened an ice cream parlor, but recently returned to Italy to continue producing ice cream.

Ricco's phone was turned off when Cycling News tried to contact him.

Ricco confessed to doping during his working years in an interview with Corriere della Sera last summer when he opened a new ice cream store in Vignola with his wife Melissa, whom he met after a 2015 investigation.

"I was a talented little bully, a fool who gave up money and career. If I had managed to mature and manage my anger and abilities like I do now, I would have won the Tour and the Giro. But my fate was clear. I can't decide for myself when to grow up."

"I doped heavily because it seemed the inevitable choice if I wanted to win. But it was hopeless doping.

Ricco claims that a friend offered to teach him how to make ice cream and saved his life. He first met Mirsa at a fruit supplier.

"She succeeded by leveraging her past passion, dedication, and attention to detail. Melissa, without her strength and love, I would not have succeeded. To her, I was Riccardo, not "Il Cobra" as I was nicknamed in cycling, and 12 years ago I looked down on the world from the podium of the Tour. Today, if my kids say my ice cream tastes good, I'm happy. I can go home satisfied without looking over my shoulder.