8/9/2019 Pevenage admits Ullrich doped, visited Fuentes
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Thursday, July 08, 2010
Pevenage admits Ullrich doped, visited FuentesBy Conal Andrews @
4:38 AM :: :: 0 Comments :: :: Pro Cycling, Tour de
France, Doping
Four years after both he and Jan Ullrich were implicated in
Operacin
Puerto, Rudy Pevenage has finally admitted that he helped the
rider to dope.
I never bought or sold doping products, he said to lEquipe. I
only
organised the trips for Jan.
German police revealed last year that Ullrich visited Spanish
doping doctor
Eufemiano Fuentes 24 times between 2003 and 2006, with this
information
being discovered after they seized Pevenages computer.
The latter said that the decision to use the Spanish doping
doctor was taken
after the rider tried to cut back on his consumption of banned
products, but
found that he was no longer as competitive as he had been. At
T-Mobile
everything stopped after 1998 and I can say that our team was
really clean
in the years after the Festina Affair. But, slowly, looking at
the results, we
realised that we were lagging behind the other teams, especially
the
Spanish and the Italians, said Pevenage, who won a stage and
took the
points competition in the 1980 Tour de France.
Why should I lie any longer? the Belgian asked. I just want to
make it clear that at the time, I never had the
impression that I did something wrong. I knew many customers of
Fuentes, including some good riders who were
themselves in the Tour in 2006. I also knew who went to other
doctors than Fuentes.
Pevenage confirmed that Ullrich had planned to end his career in
2006. He had hoped to win the Tour de France for
one last time, then hang up his racing wheels. He said that the
rider felt a great deal of pressure and that this impacted
on his ability to race to the best of his abilities. With all
the money he earned, Jan could not afford to be beaten by
second-class riders. He was stressed and even put on weight
because of that. Now that he no longer races at all, he is
thinner than in the middle of the season. Stress poisoned his
career.
Pevenage said that he remains convinced that Ullrich was
physically stronger than Lance Armstrong, but the German
was unable to match the American in the Tour. He described his
metamorphasis after cancer as so extraordinary.
Ullrich has not raced since mid-2006, when he won the Tour de
Suisse. However he still faces disciplinary proceedings,
as the UCI has appealed to CAS in order to reverse a Swiss
Olympic Committee decision not to punish the rider.
Ullrich showed his ability in 1993 when he won the amateur world
championship. He was second in his first Tour de
France in 1996, despite working for team-mate Bjarne Riis, and
then won the race in 1997. At the time he was tipped
to dominate the sport for many years, but never reached the same
heights again. However he did win the 1999 Vuelta
nage admits Ullrich doped, visited Fuentes
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10/07/20
