In the “What’s Old is News Again” department, a report issued by the University of Freiburg yesterday (eightzero provided the link) says that Andreas Klöden and Matthias Kessler, along with confessed doper Patrick Sinkewitz, made a visit to the University’s clinic on the eve of the 2006 Tour de France to top of their tanks, as it were, with a bit of their own blood. This particular form of blood doping, known as autologous blood doping, is the hardest to detect, for the simple reason that the blood cells used come from the same person who receives them later on.
The problem, of course, is that when the athlete withdraws a pint or two of blood, that means he (or she) is operating on a bit less for a while. So, while adding extra cells before a major race like the Tour de France can help a cyclist deliver more oxygen to those hard working muscles, immediately after the blood has been withdrawn the cyclist has fewer blood cells to transport oxygen.
The thing that staggers the mind, however, is the timing. Yes, this type of blood doping is harder to detect, and one can imagine why a cyclist or other endurance athlete might do so right around the start a major event. But in 2006, right as the Tour de France is kicking off, when two of your teammates have been sent home just a couple of days before because they’ve been implicated in the still ongoing (comedy known as) Operaciòn Puerto, it takes a certain amount of chutzpah to actually make a run for the blood bank. Especially with all the media scrutiny going on right at that time.
By the descriptions of the Freiburg report, that’s what Sinkewitz, Kessler and Klöden did. Instead of going to dinner, they made the hour-long drive from Strasbourg to Freiburg to fuel up in an entirely different way. Susan Westemeyer of CyclingNews.com lays out the history behind the report, which deals with the activities of Dr. Andreas Schmid and Dr. Lothar Heinrich, two doctors connected to the Freiburg Clinic.
Westemeyer’s story notes that after Patrick Sinkewitz signed with the T-Mobile team in late 2005, he began blood doping with Dr. Heinrich’s assistance.
The most notorious of those transfusions took place on Sunday, July 2, 2006. Sinkewitz’s girlfriend at the time drove him from the team hotel in Strasbourg, France, to the clinic in Freiburg, Germany, for a blood transfusion. Only the day before the Tour started, Jan Ullrich, Oscar Sevilla and directeur sportif Rudy Pevenage had been suspended from the team for their involvement with with Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes as the fallout from Operaciòn Puerto muddied the waters of the Tour de France.
The report notes that Sinkewitz gave various accounts of this episode, often claiming to have been the only rider involved. However, at risk of prosecution for perjury, he stated that teammates Andreas Klöden and Matthias Kessler were also in the car and received transfusions. The girlfriend, whose name was not given, also testified to that effect.
Sinkewitz eventually spilled his guts after an out-of-competition sample taken in 2007 during a pre-TdF training camp came back positive for testosterone. If the stories about the Freiburg report are accurate, Klöden appears to be headed for an anti-doping hearing, and a possible suspension. If he is suspended, the question will be whether he gets two years for a first offense (the standard in 2006) or whether the German anti-doping agency (NADA — ironic given what the term means in English) considers this episode to have “aggravating” circumstances, which could lead to a four-year suspension under the rules that came into effect in January 2009. Time will tell how this all plays out.
The Freiberg report contained at least a bit of qualified good news for Jan Ullrich, one of the two T-Mobile riders who was sent home before the 2006 Tour started.
The commission said at its press conference that it found no indication Jan Ullrich was involved in this particular doping programme. “We found nothing new against Jan Ullrich,” said Hans Joachim Schafer, head of the commission. “I assume that Jan Ullrich was in Freiburg for the usual medical examinations, but was cared for elsewhere, if at all.” Ullrich, however, was linked by DNA to blood taken into custody during Operaciòn Puerto.
For a summary of what’s become of the T-Mobile’s 2006 Tour de France riders, Lionel Birnie of Cycling Weekly offers a rogue’s gallery under the heading Nightmare Team. Of the 9 cyclists who were slated to start, and seven who actually participated, only two have not been implicated in doping scandals. As Birnie observed:
The T-Mobile team selected for the 2006 Tour de France was a beauty, wasn’t it.
Yep. Sure was. It certainly will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Some day, this littany from the Ghost of Doping Past is bound to end. I hope.
Update: In an article on VeloNews.com about Astana’s new jerseys (with faded out title sponsor), Andrew Hood provides the following postscript:
No decision on Klöden
Bruyneel also fielded a question on the fate Astana rider Andreas Klöden, who is under the spotlight following a new report from Germany that allegedly details organized blood doping within the former T-Mobile team during the 2006 Tour, when Klöden rode to second overall.
“I’ve been a little bit busy. I’ve been reading Web sites. I haven’t seen the report yet,” Bruyneel said. “I would need to read the official report and then see what’s in there, what’s not in there, what the situation is. I haven’t talked to Andreas, either, so I will do that over the weekend. I don’t want make a decision now, or make any comment, I would like to have all of the information available first.”
Good idea to gather all the facts before making a decision.
