By Andreas Zellmer Jul 20, 2008, 15:04 GMT
Prato Nevoso, Italy - Moises Duenas and Leonardo Piepoli have reportedly admitted to doping amid allegations from a German television network that a Spanish lab had offered Tour de France teams assistance in doping practices.
ARD television reported on Saturday night that the university of Caceres (Universidad de Extremadura) offered checkups for riders which would allow them to be clean when tested.
But a member of the university swiftly denied any wrongdoing on Sunday, saying the offer was made to help teams find cheaters.
Gerolsteiner team boss Hans-Michael Holczer said that he received an according email which reportedly also went to nine other teams, including Milram, CSC and Columbia.
ARD said the lab offered 'a complete steroid profile through urine tests' and Holczer spoke of '50 euros per test and rider.'
Holczer said he forwarded the email to the World Anti-Doping Agency, with WADA general secretary David Howman quoted by ARD as saying 'The alleged practices described by you are alarming.'
French anti-doping agency (AFLD) chief Pierre Bordry agreed, telling ARD that 'it is alarming if that is true.'
The news came as no surprise to Hans Geyer from a Cologne-based centre for preventive doping research.
'We always assumed that there were laboratories somewhere in Europe which pre-check samples. Labs outside the control system which examine samples from athletes so that they know when to stop using doping substances in order not to be caught,' Geyer told ARD.
But Marcos Maynar Marino from the university, who sent the email, insisted in a statement that the offer was made to assist the teams to find dopers, not to support substance abuse.
'We are not supporting doping but try to prevent team-members from doing something which could destroy the team,' Maynar said.
Also from Spain - in the form of the El Pais daily - came the news on the weekend that Duenas and Piepoli said they used EPO.
Citing his French lawyer, El Pais said that the Barloworld rider Duenas told a judge in Tarbes, France, that he used doping substances. Duenas was kicked out of his team after the positive test and doping substances were found by police in his room.
Duenas reportedly said that his Spanish doctor Jesus Losa provided him with the doping product but Losa reportedly dismissed this, saying 'I never gave him forbidden substances.'
Piepoli, winner of a tough stage in Pyrenees, has not tested positive, but was kicked out of the Saunier-Duval squad along with caught fellow-Italian two-time stage winner Riccardo Ricco.
'I did the same as Riccardo,' El Pais quoted Piepoli as telling his team's sports director Joxean Fernandez.
The latest round of doping cases at the Tour de France, which also include Spain's Manuel Beltran, also affects team futures.
The brand management company Barloworld has announced its withdrawal after the Tour. Saunier Duval, which belongs to German heating systems company Vaillant, is also expected to quit its engagement.
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