German Erik Zabel admits to doping

Former German sprinter Erik Zabel
admitted to having used doping
products including EPO from 1996 to
2004, in an interview published on
German newspaper Sueddeutsche
Zeitung's website on Sunday.
He also admitted to blood doping and
using cortisone.
Zabel's admission comes a few days
after he was named in a French
government report that identified
cyclists who had tested positive for
EPO during the 1998 Tour de France.
"EPO, cortisone and then even blood
doping. It's really a lot," said Zabel, a
six-time winner of the Tour de
France's green jersey competition for
best sprinter.
The 43-year-old, who retired in 2008,
had previously admitted in 2007 to
having taken EPO in 1996, although
he said he had stopped using it after
one week.
However, now he has finally come
fully clean, explaining how he
graduated from EPO to blood doping
as detection methods improved.
"In 2003, I had a transfusion of my
own blood," he added before
explaining why he had previously lied
about his doping past.
"First and foremost I wanted to
preserve my life, the dream life of a
professional cyclist.
"I loved it so much, the discipline, the
travel. Basically, my selfishness was
the strongest (thing)."
The inquiry by the French government
commission into the effectiveness of
the fight against doping decided to
publish on Wednesday the results of
samples from the 1998 and 1999
Tours that were retroactively tested
for EPO in 2004.
In 1998 there wasn't an effective test
for EPO so the drug went undetected.
Zabel, fellow sprinter Mario Cipollini
as well as known dopers and former
Tour winners Marco Pantini and Jan
Ullrich were amongst the cyclists
revealed to have used EPO in 1998.
Disgraced former seven-time Tour
winner Lance Armstrong's samples
from the 1999 Tour, the first one he
won before later being stripped of all
his titles, also tested positive for EPO.
Zabel actually tested positive for a
banned anabolic steroid in 1994, right
at the start of his career, but got away
with a fine of 3,000 Swiss francs and
no suspension.
In 2007 in the wake of admissions
from former teammates and team
officials from his former squad
Telekom that doping was systematic
in the German outfit, Zabel had said
he tried EPO for just one week in the
lead up to the 1996 Tour before
stopping due to side effects.
However, his new admission shows
that he in fact continued using doping
products throughout the majority of
his career, and principally the most
successful period when he won six
successive green jerseys from 1996 to
2001.