Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl, who retired after admitting he used a banned blood booster during last year’s Tour de France, says the top 10 finishing riders in the race could have all tested positive for doping.
Kohl finished third in the Tour last year and won the polka-dot jersey for best climber, but was then caught for using the blood-boosting hormone CERA when French anti-doping agency AFLD retested the race samples.
In an interview on Tuesday with sports daily L’Equipe, Kohl said he knew he was going to test positive after AFLD’s involvement.
PHOTO: AP
“At first, I once again tried to reassure myself: ‘OK, I was dead — but we were all dead,’” Kohl said. “Many other riders had taken [banned substances].
“What were the French authorities going to do? Disqualify everyone in the race? I told myself they wouldn’t dare. Oddly, only three of us got caught. I am convinced that the top 10 could have been positive.”
Riccardo Ricco of Italy and Stefan Schumacher of Germany also tested positive for CERA at last year’s Tour.
The 27-year-old Kohl said the first extraction of blood began in August 2007 and that he received three blood transfusions during the following year’s race.
“The first one after the sixth stage, the second one before the Pyrenees and the last one before the Alps,” said Kohl, who named former manager Stefan Matschiner as having helped him with the transfusions.
Kohl said he injected himself with CERA three days before the start of the race, but claimed there was no organized cheating within then team Gerolsteiner.
“There was no systematic doping inside the team, for sure,” he said. “But I think they should have suspected what we were doing.”
Kohl also criticized the biological passport scheme implemented by cycling’s governing body with the World Anti-Doping Agency.
“The top riders are so good at doping that they know what they need to do to keep their blood levels stable to escape targeting,” Kohl said.
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