PtG Article 14.08.2009

Former cyclist confirms manager bribed WADA certified lab staff

Former pro cyclist, Bernhard Kohl, has confirmed reports that his former manager Stefan Matschiner bribed anti-doping laboratories accredited by WADA to establish strategies for beating doping tests.

Matschiner "had samples analysed so that we knew how far we could go and still not be caught,“ Kohl told Austrian newspaper Kurier."That way you find out exactly how much you could take at night to avoid being detected the next day."

Kohl however ended up being caught by the doping tests he sought to cheat, testing positive for a variant of EPO called CERA.

Matschiner is a former track athlete and was still heavily involved in the track and field scene reports cyclingnews.com. He told the German television broadcaster ARD that he had bribed lab workers, allegedly paying them from 150 to 500 Euros per sample.

SOURCE: Cyclingnews.com and AFP