While 32-year-old German cyclist Jan Ullrich maintains his innocense at the T-Mobile Team website, the director of sports communications explains why Der Kaiser was suspended from the Tour de France on Friday.
“… we have good reason to doubt that he has told us the truth as far as his contact with Fuentes is concerned. That’s why we suspended him”, says spokesman Christian Frommert. “Furthermore, we have confirmation from the A.S.O., that they would have taken action in case we hadn’t.”
Fuentes is Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes, the sports doctor busted by Spanish police for allegedly supplying athletes with blood-doping substances and helping them cover up their transgressions.
Accordinig to the team website: “The Spanish authorities presented undisputable evidence of contact between Jan Ullrich, Rudy Pevenage and Oscar Sevilla and the doctor at the centre of the probe, Eufemiano Fuentes. This contradicts the claims of the team members involved. As a consequence, the T-Mobile Team suspended indefintely the two riders and the sporting director.”
Ullrich and Sevilla both maintain their innocense and plan to beat the allegations.
“I was in peak form and now I could cry, because I have to head home,” Ullrich said.
Said Sevilla: “It's with a lot of sadness that I am leaving the Tour de France. I can understand why my team would take such a precautionary measure, even if its hard. I am remaining calm but now I am set to return to Spain in order to prove my innocence”.
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