Berlin (AFP)
Investigations into the "Aderlass" blood doping case show that the biggest competitions have been affected, including the Olympic Games, the Tour de France and the world championships, the Munich prosecutor's office said on Friday.
"We have practically investigated all the most important competitions, from the Olympic Games to the world and European championships, to the national championships," said Kai Gräber, chief investigator of the cell dedicated to Munich prosecutor's office. In cycling in particular, "the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italie, the Tour de Suisse and other stage races are concerned".
The active cyclists suspended in the context of the Aderlass case ("bleeding" in German) are the Austrians Stefan Denifl and Georg Preidler, the Slovenian Kristijan Koren and the Croatian Kristjan Durasek.
"I have never seen anything like it before," said Gräber, impressed by the organization of the network, "it is a huge story that cannot be compared with other cases."
The blood manipulations, according to him, were planned with meticulousness: "there were meetings before the season with the sportsmen concerned, where the race schedules were studied, in order to see how to best adapt the + treatments +".
The prosecution requested Thursday a referral to justice of the German doctor Mark Schmidt, at the heart of the scandal, and four of his accomplices.
Arrested on February 27 at his office in Erfurt (Germany), Dr. Schmidt had organized an important doping network, which benefited many cyclists and high-level skiers. German investigators consider to date that 23 athletes from eight European countries are concerned. Austrian police, which participated in the investigation, had reported 30 cases.
In Austria, the first conviction fell in October in Innsbruck: the Austrian founder Max Hauke, already suspended four years by the Anti-Doping Agency of his country, received a five-month suspended prison sentence and 480 euros fine for "fraud serious sport ".
© 2019 AFP