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 Report implicates Ullrich Former Tour de France winner's team accused of drug use
Posted: Saturday June 12, 1999 12:36 PM
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- A German news magazine has accused the cycling team of 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich of systematically using blood doping and other performance-enhancing drugs. Ullrich himself had an unusually high red blood cells count shortly after his tour victory, Der Spiegel magazine said Saturday. A team spokesman denied the allegations. In an account released to other media Saturday in advance of the magazine's publication Monday, Spiegel said its article was based on training documents and statements made by unnamed former Team Deutsche Telekom aides. "According to former members of the team, doping is used by Team Telekom precisely as systematically and comprehensively as it is by competing teams -- except that no one has been caught yet," Spiegel wrote. Spiegelsaid Telekom riders used EPO, steroids and growth hormones, provided and administered by the various support staff on the team. At a one-day race shortly after he won the 1997 Tour de France, Ullrich had a red blood cell count "way over" 50, the allowed limit. It said Ullrich did not stay in the team hotel to escape possible drug tests by the International Cycling Union (UCI). Juergen Kindervater, spokesman for Deutsche Telekom AG, the sponsor of the team, denied the Spiegel allegations. "I don't see a single proof," he said. "The whole article is a conglomeration of allegations. They are insinuations and conjectures," Kindervater. The spokesman said he had "proof" that Spiegel had been engaged in "checkbook journalism" for several months, trying to "bribe" former team staffers. Kindervater said the team underwent 180 drug tests a year, 80 of them conducted by UCI and the rest by the team itself. The team's doctor, Lothar Heinrich, also denied the allegations. "I can rule out that any of our riders have taken drugs," he said. The Spiegel allegations come three weeks before this year's Tour de France and one week after the banning of Marco Pantani, last year's Tour winner. Pantani also had an unusually high red blood-cell count before a stage of Giro d'Italia, the Italian tour. A high count can occur naturally, but it can also indicate the use of a synthetic form of the hormone EPO. EPO, or erythropoietin, allows users to cram oxygen into the blood, enhancing their performance levels. It also has been linked to the deaths of about 20 cyclists since the late 1980s. Spiegel said it had obtained documents showing that one Telekom rider was taking EPO, anabolic steroids and stamina-improving drugs daily in March and April. But Heinrich, the team doctor, said he had "never seen" a training schedule as printed by Spiegel. The team used code language to refer to different drugs, such as calling EPO vitamin E, the magazine said. The team hired helpers to clean up hotel rooms and take away ampules, syringes and other evidence of doping, the article said. After the Festina team's car was searched during last year's Tour de France, Telekom hired an unmarked car. According to Spiegel, all Telekom riders have equipment to measure their red-cell blood count. They also carry saline solutions, which can reduce the count. Others do headstands in their rooms because such exercises also help sink the count, Spiegel said. Jens Heppner, who usually shares hotel rooms with Ullrich, "twice had his neighbor's feet fall on his face during the night because he was resting his legs against wall and had fallen asleep," Spiegel said.
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