Riccardo Ricco hits back at Cavendish. The parasite speaks.

Biological impossibility? Parasite talks!

Doper Riccardo Ricco responded to recent comments by HTC-Columbia's Mark Cavendish that he was a parasite. "Why am I parasite? What does he mean when he says I’ve shown no remorse?” Ricco asked.

The alleged ringworm or intestinal fluke insisted that he's filled with remorse after his suspension for CERA during the 2008 Tour de France.

"I even helped the anti-doping investigators and that’s why they gave me a 20-month ban instead of 24 months. Of course, he (Cavendish) is at the peak of his career and so he can say what he wants.”

In a recent interview, Cavendish heaped abuse on the Italian climber. “It’s insulting to the passion that I have and the others have for cycling … and for someone else to not give a shit about that, it’s incredibly demoralizing to have to compete against that,” he said.

However, in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Ricco hit back at the Manxman. “I’m not going to respond because I’m the last person who can speak after what I did. He’s the number-one sprinter in the world and so he’s always right." said Ricco. "I’m not that bothered about what he’s said or what he thinks. Anyway, you shut people up with your legs, not with your mouth.”

Ricco's legs are in for quite a challenge. Mark Cavendish isn't' the only HTC COlumbia rider disgusted by Ricco's imminent return to racing. In a Twitter message, Marco Pinotti said the idea that Riccò and fellow CERA doper Emanuele Sella could be at this year’s Giro ‘made him puke’.

“They’ve had a second chance but they’ve never apologized to the other riders in the peloton, to the team staff that lost their jobs and above all to the fans they betrayed,” said Pinotti.

Cavendish versus Ricco. No doubt round three is coming soon.