Kohl and Rasmussen's former manager has been arrested in Austria
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Kohl and Rasmussen’s Former Manager Arrested
Austria, long seen as a doping paradise in Europe due to its lax legislation, is cleaning up its act with a series of major arrests, including that on Monday of presumed ringleader Stefan Matschiner.
Matschiner, 34, the former manager of Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl, who was suspended last year for doping, was arrested overnight in Austria by the new anti-doping task force, just hours after returning from the United States. The Vienna prosecutor's office said he was detained "on danger of suppressing evidence and danger of illegal acts," adding: "There is a strong suspicion of traffic of doping substances."
This was not the first time that Matschiner's name was associated with doping allegations. He was present at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin when the Austrian biathlon and cross-country squads were found in possession of banned substances and equipment, and he was the manager of Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen, when he was excluded from the 2007 Tour de France for missing doping tests.
But Matschiner had never until now been considered a suspect. This changed after Austrian triathlete Lisa Huetthaler, 25, named him as one of her main suppliers of banned blood booster EPO, in an interview with the daily Kurier last week.
Huetthaler, a former European champion at under-23 level who was suspended in October for two years after testing positive for EPO, said she was prepared to act as the chief witness to uncover the full scale of the Austrian doping network.
Kohl, who until now had always refused to name his EPO suppliers, could soon follow suit: he has announced a press conference for Tuesday evening.
Matschiner's lawyer Franz Essl was quicker however, revealing Tuesday that his client had helped perform irregular blood transfusions for Kohl. Matschiner admitted as much to investigators after his arrest, but denied supplying either Kohl or Huetthaler with EPO or other similar banned substances, Essl said.
Matschiner's arrest comes just 10 days after that of Walter Mayer, the man at the center of the Turin Olympics doping scandal and a close acquaintance. In an interview with national broadcaster ORF on March 27, the same day that Huetthaler's allegations appeared in the press, Matschiner also admitted that he was close to Andreas Zoubek, a doctor at a Vienna children's hospital suspected of providing EPO to Huetthaler and other athletes.
About two-dozen people were currently being investigated by the Vienna prosecutor's office, spokeswoman Michaela Schnell said Tuesday. "It's obvious, this was a network," she said. Unthinkable just a year ago, the recent wave of arrests was made possible by a change in legislation in August, which made the possession and trafficking of doping substances punishable by five years in prison. Until then, it had only been deemed a minor offence.
The new amendment allowed the arrest two weeks ago of Austrian cyclist Christof Kerschbaum, the first ever athlete in Austria to be detained on doping allegations. He has since been released but a Vienna pharmacist, believed to have supplied Mayer and Kerschbaum with banned substances, remains in custody.
"We have unfortunately gained a reputation in the last few years, as one of four, five, maybe six countries in Europe, where doping has become acceptable and where networks exist. I want to correct this," Sports Minister Norbert Darabos noted in a recent interview with Austrian television.
Austrian athletes could also face prison terms for using doping substances, and not only for possession or trafficking, he noted. Thanks to the 2008 anti-doping amendment, the traffic of banned substances was now treated much like drug trafficking, "and I think this is a good thing," said Darabos.
The law is not retroactive however, meaning that Matschiner, Mayer and Zoubek can only be investigated for doping offences committed since August. For this reason too, the case of Humansplasma, a Vienna laboratory suspected of helping perform irregular blood transfusions on dozens of European athletes, was closed on March 24. Blood doping was not illegal until the amendment was passed.
 2008 Milano-Sanremo champion is back, and will start Tour of Flanders (Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Cancellara To Race Flanders
Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara is slated to start Sunday’s Tour of Flanders despite an injury and illness plagued spring that forced him out of the Tour of California and Milano-Sanremo. At the beginning of the season, Cancellara said winning the Tour of Flanders was one of his goals for the season.
Although he is on the team for Sunday, Saxo Bank team management said they don’t expected Cancellara to be in shape to fight for victory. Lars Michaelsen, Saxo Bank sport director, is quoted in Belgian paper Het Nieuwsblad as saying. “Even though Fabian is not in top shape to fight for victory, he will still be useful to the team. He can play an important role because he knows the course, the distance and its secrets.”
Saxo Bank has named long time classic specialist Karsten Kroon, as team leader. The team will also be without 2007 Paris-Roubaix winner Stuart O’Grady, who crashed out of Milano-Sanremo.
Saxo Bank for Tour of Flanders
Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Lars Bak, Matti Breschel, Fabian Cancellara, Matthew Goss, Frank Høj, Kasper Klostergaard and Karsten Kroon.
 Kyle Wamsley scored big for his Colavita/Sutter Home team (Photo: Colavita/Sutter Home)
Redlands Ends With Big Win For Colavita/Sutter Home
Kyle Wamsley of the Linden, NJ-based Colavita/Sutter Home Men's Cycling Team won the final stage of the Redlands Bicycle Classic on March 29th. A native of Pennsylvania, Wamsley also captured the Best Sprinter's green jersey for the four-day event. The 29-year old dug deep to remain in front over the hilly 105.8-mile route. Wamsley used the last of 12 laps to break away from the leading group and sprinted to a solo victory before cheering crowds. "There are no words to describe how I feel," said Wamsley. "I really did use the one bullet I had left to get away from the field and it worked."
The win was the biggest ever for the small Colavita/Sutter Home team. The team has ridden well so far this season but was shut out at the Tour of California. Jeff Louder (BMC) and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Columbia-HighRoad) took the overall men’s and women’s titles at the Redlands Classic
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