Cyclist Erik Zabel admits extensive doping
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Berlin • Retired cyclist Erik Zabel has told a German newspaper he used banned drugs for "many years" during his career. Among the substances were the blood-booster EPO and cortisone.
In Monday's Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Zabel says he never had a "structured doping plan." But if "you take it all together now — EPO, cortisone, then even blood doping — it's a whole lot."
Zabel retired in 2008. He won 12 Tour de France stages and the sprinter's green jersey six times in cycling's premier race. The year before he retired, he said he briefly used EPO in 1996.