Frank Schleck Suspended by CSC, But Ready To Give DNA Sample
CSC rider Frank Schleck has been suspended from racing by his team after becoming the latest big name rider to become embroiled in the Opertion Puerto doping affair.
Schleck, 28, wore the Tour de France yellow jersey for two days in July but following damaging allegations last week CSC have decided to suspend him while awaiting further decisions from the Luxembourg anti-doping authorities or the International Cycling Union (UCI).
“For the moment, Frank has to concentrate fully on this case and we will await further information from both the Luxembourg Anti-doping committee and the UCI in order to make an assessment of our further actions in relation to this,” said team manager and owner Bjarne Riis.
“Together with Frank, we have made the decision that he doesn’t enter our race program until we have had the chance to evaluate the outcome of this.”
He added: “We would like to express our sincere hope that Frank comes out of this case in a way that is acceptable to him and to the team and we will do our utmost to make the most reasonable and sound decisions for him and for the team.”
A report last week claimed Schleck made a payment of 7,000 euros to Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, the alleged mastermind of a vast blood doping network based in Madrid.
When police raided his laboratory in May 2006, banned substances, blood bags and a list of around 200 athletes’ names, including 50 or so cyclists, were reportedly found.
Schleck answered the anti-doping authorities in Luxembourg earlier this week over the report’s allegations that he paid 7,000 euros into a Swiss bank account held by Fuentes in March 2006.
He refuted all links to the affair.
The CSC team statement issued Friday said the 28-year-old Luxemburger admitted paying money into an account, but only to “receive training advice by experts”.
It said he “never used or attempted use of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method”.
The statement added: “He (Schleck) deeply regrets having taken initial contact to these people and confirms towards his team and the Luxembourg Anti-doping committee that his involvement never went beyond the initial contact, i.e. the bank transfer.
“He has never received, nor made use of any services from these people - including Eufemiamo Fuentes, whom he has never met.
“He is fully prepared to give a sample of his DNA to relevant authorities to prove that he has not stored blood in Madrid or elsewhere in order to make use of illegal performance enhancing methods.”
The biggest name so far to be snared by the Puerto Affair is Italian ace Ivan Basso, the former leader of Schleck’s CSC team, whose doping ban will end later this month.
He was snared by a codename on a blood bag, labeled with the name of his dog ‘Birillo’.
However allegations of links to Fuentes effectively prompted the retirement of 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich of Germany, Riis’s teammate at the now defunct Telekom outfit during the 1990s.
Riis admitted he used EPO to win the 1996 Tour, thus ending the five-year reign of Spaniard Miguel Indurain.
Categories: Doping, Features, team csc
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not the poster boy wonder!
as long as the little brother did mix up his overnight toiletry bag with his sibling!
sad. small and big boys round the world tear up their CSC caps and put a hammer to their Cervelos.