Racing for Germany's Team Telekom in the mid-1990s must have been something like: “Fill up your water bottle, take your EPO injection, and get back on the bike.”
Bjarne Riis, winner of the 1996 Tour de France, is the latest former Telekom team member to admit to doping; he confessed publically Friday to taking EPO, human growth hormone and steriods from 1993 to 1998. (Riis press release.)
Riis, the Danish owner and manager of Team CSC, said he's willing to give up his title.
Erik Zabel and Rolf Aldag, two long-time T-Mobile (Telekom) cycling roommates, are disclosing that they doped with the banned blood-boosting agent EPO in the mid 1990s. They're among 7 Telekom cyclists who confessed to doping this week.
1996 Tour de France
Zabel, one of cycling's most accomplished sprinters with 192 wins, says he doped during the first week of the 1996 Tour de France but didn't repeat because he had some side effects.
Aldag said he started using EPO before the 1995 Tour de France.
You might remember the pair from the cycling film “Hell on Wheels,” which documents the 2003 from the German perspective, specifically T-Mobile. Zabel and Aldag, who roomed for 11 years on the road, are interviewed frequently in the film. At one point, Zabel talks about the daily life off the bike during the Tour, and how he and Aldag are almost like an old married couple.
Riis
Riis is now the owner and manager of Team CSC. He took the high road with cyclist Ivan Basso last year, essentially kicking him off the team after Basso's name was connected with the Spanish Operacion Puerto drug scandal. Team CSC is reported to have a rigorous drug testing program.
Riis said he didn't have any side effects from his use of drugs, except that he rode faster.
EPO
EPO is Erythropoietin, a natural hormone that regulates red blood cell production. Produced commercially by Amgen (sponsor of the Tour of California), EPO is used to treat anemia from kidney failure and chemotherapy.
As red blood cells carry oxygen, cyclists found EPO a useful doping agent as it enhanced performance. It also can cause a condition that thickens the blood, which can cause a heart attack. EPO has been banned by World Anti-Doping Agency since the early 1990s.
Did EPO help Zabel? His record shows that he won the first green jersey (for sprint points) in the 1996 Tour de France. He also won the 3rd and 10th Tour de France stages that year.
Zabel is still competing, racing for Team Milram. Aldag is a manager for T-Mobile.
More dopers
The series of doping confessions started this week with Bert Dietz, a former Telekom rider who said the drug was dispensed by team doctors. Those doctors, Andreas Schmid and Lothar Heinrich, later admitted dispensing drugs to cyclists and were fired by the University of Freiberg.
Other former Telekom cyclists who admitted doping this week — Brian Holm, Christian Henn and Udo Boelts.
Notably absent from the list of confessors is Jan Ullrich, who won the 1997 Tour de France for Telekom. Ullrich who quit racing when he could not find a team this year, is under investigation in connection with the Spanish blood doping probe, Operacion Puerto.
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