More doping at Telekom

by slowK on Oct 28, 2008 5:55 PM EDT Comment 17 comments

Today's cyclingnews.com has an article concerning an anonymous ex-Telekom rider who is giving evidence on doping.

What's interesting to see who was on Telekom/T-Mobile in 2003 and 2004.

T-Mobile rider claims widespread EPO use

The rider, whose name was not released, rode for the team in those two years, but it was not clear as to whether those were the only two years, or whether he is still active. He allegedly made a comprehensive statement about doping practices at the team during those years.

A former Team Telekom/T-Mobile rider claimed that team doctors from the Freiburg University Clinic distributed EPO (Erythropoietin) to riders during 2003 and 2004, public prosecutors in Freiburg, Germany said Monday night on German TV.

What's interesting is to see who was in the squad in 2003/04.

The info is taken from cyclingwebsite.net; I've just included riders who were in the team for both 2003 and 2004.

Mario Aerts, Rolf Aldag, Santiago Botero, Cadel Evans, Giuseppe Guerini, Torsten Hiekmann, Matthias Kessler, Andreas Klier, Andreas Kloden, Daniele Nardello, Paolo Savoldelli, Jan Schaffrath, Stephan Schreck, Alexanre Vinokourov, Steffen Wesemann, Sergei Yakolev, Erik Zabel.

Some big names left after the 2003 season: Danilo Hondo, Bobby Julich, Stefan Schumacher

Interesting signings for 2004: Jan Ullrich, Heinrich Haussler

Quite a few of these have been busted for doping or admitted as such. Aldag, Botero, Kessler, Vino, Zabel, Hondo, Schumacher to name a few.

Rampant speculation begins now as to who is coming clean...

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Old news

Still, Evans and Savoldelli… hope not. Their results for T-Mobile don’t look suspicious except for how bad they were. Wesemann… hope not. Please don’t besmirch de Ronde.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Oct 28, 2008 6:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Repeating what I said on the other thread this was posted on, I’d be looking for someone with a relatively low profile, German and retired. Which makes someone like Kessler an obvious candidate. He’s already busted so what’s he got to lose? All the ones who’ve already given limited confessions, well why would they expand? And why would any current rider not caught up in scandal want to bring attention to themselves? And – finally – why would any non German give a damn?

pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway

by fmk on Oct 30, 2008 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Jan may have been on the squad in 2003 as well

He resigned with Telekom pretty soon after the end of the 2003 Tour. Just another name for us to casually libel.

by Monty. on Oct 28, 2008 6:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You mean Bianchi?

by Mark T1979 on Oct 28, 2008 7:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He rode the Tour for Bianchi in 2003

but almost immediately it finished he signed back with Telekom. And upset a lot of people. He may have been on the Telekom roster in some technical sense in 2003.

by Monty. on Oct 28, 2008 8:04 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't think so.

He signed again with Telekom in October 2003—a three-year contract starting in 2004. I don’t see how that would put him on Telekom in 2003 in any sense.

by majope on Oct 29, 2008 9:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

OK

And as Jan also paid a lot of cash to end the doping investigation I can’t see him voluntarily getting involved again. I just thought that he might sneak on to a shortlist somehow.

by Monty. on Oct 29, 2008 5:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

casual libel

May be a problem in some chats, but I think SlowK steers clear of any speculation.

CQRanking.com, you complete me.

by Chris... on Oct 29, 2008 6:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

ooh

I hope so. I don’t know exactly what it means, but casual libel is a scary phrase to me. Was curious to see who was actually in Telekom for those years who is coming clean.

by slowK on Oct 30, 2008 8:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Enough with this Tlecom talk, the story above is much more interesting

CPA urges riders to question anti-doping controllers:

Vasseur underlined security behind the CPA’s statement. “Most of the riders just open the door when someone arrives for the control. … I could put on a glasses and moustache to go to [Alejandro] Valverde’s house!”

I wonder if he’ll get suspicious when asked to smile to the camera.

Probably not.