Since the Telekom thread has been usurped by another kind of doping discussion, I thought I'd try to consolidate the facts on the Telekom confessions here.
What has happened:
* D'Hont has written a book, in which he discusses organized doping at Telekom. He states that Godefroot was responsible (and essentially hired D'Hont for that purpose), and alleges that doping was widespread and open on the team. He states specifically that Bjarne Riis and Jan Ullrich doped, and implicates Andreas Schmid and Lothar Heinrich (T-Mobile team doctors) in the practice. D'Hont also stated that Zabel was the only rider on the team who did not want to take doping.
* Bert Dietz (Telekom 94-98) confirmed doping on Telekom, again implicating the two team doctors and D'Hont. He refused to implicate any other riders and indicated that doping although offered to everyone, was individual. He does state that there was significant pressure on the riders to dope. He is alleged to have received a substantial amount of money from the TV station for his confession.
* Brian Holm had already written a book in 2002 ("Smertens Glæde - Joy of Pain") in which he admitted to having used doping once, although without any specifics. He has consistently denied throughout all allegations that doping was open. On Dietz's confession, he expressed his surprise as he had thought Dietz was one of the clean riders. Holm has now clarified the confession in his book; he states that he took EPO twice in his career - both in 1996.
* Christian Henn followed up by admitting to doping from 1995 to 1999. Henn tested positive for testoterone in 1999, after which he stopped his career.
* Godefroot denies categorically any involvement, and explains any testimony implicating him as being due to motivations of vengeance (D'Hont) or money (Dietz). Godefroot says that he always worked to minimize the influence of doctors in the sport.
* Peter Meinert (Telekom 96, USP 97-99, Team Fakta 00-03) has confirmed that he was aware that doping occured at Telekom, but denies having ever participated in it (although he admits to being tempted). Even this small admission is a turn-around - previously Meinert denied ever having been aware of doping.
* Jens Heppner (Telekom 92-02) denies any involvement in doping and denies any extensive knowledge of doping on the team. He states that parts of Dietz's confessions appear untrue to him.
* Stefen Wesemann (Telekom/T-mobile 93- 06) also denies any involvement in doping and says he was never offered any doping either.
* Georg Totschnig (Telekom 97-00) also denies knowledge of doping on the team.
* Olaf Ludwig has refused to comment so far.
* Mario Kummer (Telekom 94-98, DS 04-06) has refused to comment so far.
* Danilo Hondo (Telekom 99 - 03) says that he hasn't experienced any of the stuff Dietz claims, but adds that this may have been due to the after-effects of the Festina affair. He denies having received any doping products while riding for Telekom.
* Andreas Schmid, M.D., has now confessed to doping Telekom riders since the mid-90s, in particular with EPO. He denies having distributed doping products to any rider who did not ask for it, or against their will.
* Lothar Heinrich, M.D., has also confessed to facilitating doping.
* Udo Bolts (famous for Quel Dich, du sau) has confessed to using EPO from 1996 to 1997. He stated that he started in '96 in order to make the Tour team after a lackluster 1995 season. He rode for Telekom until 2002, and at Gerolsteiner in 2003.
* Bjarne Riis has so far not commented on the confessions. Through the press, Holm has encouraged Riis to make a statement, though specifically worded such that Holm's words cannot be taken as an accusation of doping against Riis. Until last year, Riis had never directly denied doping, until last year when pressured during a live TV interview.
* Rolf Aldag has confessed at a press conference today. He admitted doping from 94-98. After that he didn't dare due to the Festina scandal, but says he picked up use again in 2002-03. Aldag is said to have offered his resignation to Stapleton two weeks ago.
* Erik Zabel has confessed. After testing positive for saddle cream in '94, he refused to dope at all. In '96, spurred by realization that winning without EPO was impossible, he used EPO during the 1996 Tour. He says the side effects were bad for him, and after that he never doped again. He says that his son is entering the sport, and he would hope that the son would be able to compete in a clean sport, but is sad because things do not seem to have improved much. He says he does not want to lie to his son any more. Zabel says that he rides clean today.
* Both Aldag and Zabel state that they received EPO from D'Hont. Both state that they actively requested it. Aldag adds that he sprayed EPO into a tattoo (to hide the punctures). Both state that that this was done privately so that others would not be aware of the doping. Aldag states that the doctors knew and warned against the use of EPO. Aldag adds that he never paid any money to Godefroot, and that G's attitude was that he did not want to speak about medical things. Zabel says he paid to D'Hont and discussed his symptoms with Schmid.
* Bjarne Riis will be forced to make a statement soon, and the pressure on him to admit doping will be enormeous. Consider the roll call of the 1996 Telekom team:
Bjarne Riis - ?
Rolf Aldag - admitted doping in 1996
Udo Bölts - admitted doping in 1996
Christian Henn - admitted doping in 1996
Jens Heppner - denies doping
Brian Holm - admitted doping in 1996
Mario Kummer - ?
Jan Ullrich - under investigation for doping in Operation Puerto 2006.
Erik Zabel - admitted doping in 1996
* The pressure on Jan Ullrich to confess fully and completely will be enormeous as well.
* T-Mobile confirmed at the press conference with Aldag and Zabel that they intend to continue their current sponsorship. The current deal ends in 2010. The University of Freiburg has fired Schmid and Heinrich, and have terminated all relations with the T-Mobile teams (in effect, T-Mobile is now without team doctors at all - a big problem for the injured riders on the team).
* Jan Ullrich's lawyer has responded to the recent round of confessions. Ullrich's talent was so great he did not need to dope when he won in 1997, is the lawyer's statement.
* Bjarne Riis has indeed called for a press conference tommorrow, friday.
