Georg Preidler also confesses use of blood doping
Mar 04 2019 07:00 pm CET
Photo by Jonathan Roorda / CyclingPub.com
Groupama-FDJ's Georg Preidler has become the second rider to confess the use of blood doping after Stefan Denifl also acknowledged it some days ago.
The confession of the rider follows an anti-doping operation that has involved several Austrian athletes. "I made a mistake and want to be honest," confessed the rider to Austrian newspaper Krone. "It was the biggest mistake of my life. All I can say is that I could not live with the knowledge in my mind that I cheated.
"The last days were a nightmare. I could no longer eat or sleep. I could not live longer with this secret. These last five days have been a nightmare, I didn't know if I was going to be discovered. I didn't know if this doctor had confessed everything."
Preidler mentioned that he was clean when he was part of Tom Dumoulin's team when he won the Giro d'Italia. "These people come to you, they pick you. All my successes such as the Giro were clean," the rider explained. "I was good without doping, I never did any tricks."
Last week, five cross-country skiers were discovered using blood doping during the Nordic World Ski Championships, including two Austrians. A few days ago, Austrian media reported that Denifl, former rider of Aqua Blue Sports who broke his new contract with CCC at the end of 2018, also confessed the use of this kind of doping.
But Preidl thinks this operation will not stop here. "The coming weeks will be tough for me," he commented. "I don't know the names of other athletes. But I can imagine that there will be an international earthquake."
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