Germany’s Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla of Spain have both been withdrawn from the T-Mobile team contesting the Tour de France after they were named in an official inquiry into blood doping in Spain.
The German team also announced that they were withdrawing their sports director, Rudy Pevenage, in a move that could throw this year’s race, which is due to start on Saturday, into confusion.
On Thursday, judges in Spain lifted reporting restrictions on a 58-strong list of names that El Pais newspaper has alleged includes those of both Ullrich and CSC team leader Ivan Basso.
The list is linked to a former team doctor, Eufemiano Fuentes, who after recent police raids is being accused of masterminding a blood doping network.
In recent weeks, police claimed to have raided several addresses and found a large quantity of medical supplies, such as anabolic steroids, and more than 100 frozen packs of blood.
Ullrich and Pevenage’s name had been linked to the probe after what appeared to be code names for the pair appeared on evidence found.
At a press conference held by team management in Strasbourg on Thursday, team spokesperson Christian Frommert said they had received a fax from the Tour de France’s management company, ASO, via Spanish police.
While refusing to give details, he said the new evidence from the probe was enough to force their decision.
”We will not be divulging any details at the moment of this new evidence, although it is strong enough for the team to change their minds on the participation of Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla,” Frommert said. ”We had no choice in this decision.”
Spanish reports on Thursday said that as well as Ullrich, another yellow-jersey contender, Basso, formed part of the list of names linked to Fuentes.
Other riders named included Spaniards Joseba Beloki, Roberto Heras and Francisco Mancebo; American Tyler Hamilton; and Colombian Santiago Botero.
Basso and Mancebo have since been withdrawn from the Tour de France because of being named in the scandal, tour organisers said.
CSC rider Basso, who recently won the Tour of Italy, finished on the podium of the Tour de France, which starts on Saturday, the past two years. AG2R rider Mancebo was fourth in the tour in 2005.
Ullrich was regarded as one of the favourites to win the race this year in the absence of seven-time winner Lance Armstrong, who is now retired.
The 32-year-old German won the tour in 1997 and finished second five times as the American dominated the race like no one before him. Ullrich on Thursday once again denied he had anything to do with the matter.
‘Catastrophe’
A former coach of Ullrich said his absence from the race is a ”catastrophe”. Peter Becker said: ”It’s unbelievable. We had worked hard for 15 years and I just can’t find the right words. It’s a catastrophe,” adding he felt ”overcome, indignant and unbelievably sad”.
”Who has advised him, who has looked after him since I was no longer doing it?” said Becker. ”We invested €120 000 to build a specially oxygenated room in the cellar [of his home on the edge of Lake Constance] to be able to bring about clean results and despite all that, he falls into the hands of louts and swindlers.”
And Peter Sager, Ullrich’s coach right at the start of his career, said: ”It’s a shock. I still can’t believe it and I don’t want to believe it. I think Jan must now go on to the attack and have a DNA test to show the truth.”
The director of the German anti-doping agency, Roland Augustin, said he is satisfied with the decision of T-Mobile to exclude Ullrich, saying it will really help in the fight against doping in Germany.
”Thanks to this affair, the discussion of the fight against doping will now properly start,” Augustin said. ”To be honest, I am shocked by the matter. But the decision by the T-Mobile team has been excellent. They did not hesitate and immediately suspended a rider who had a chance of victory.” — AFP
