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07-20-04, 08:02 PM
Just read this......
Australian Michael Rogers could become the world time trial champion after Scot David Millar admitted taking the banned substance EPO.
Millar won the time trial gold medal at the road cycling world championships in Canadian city Hamilton last October, beating Rogers into second place, but he looks set to be stripped of his title after confessing that he took EPO.
Millar appeared at a Nanterre court in Paris on Tuesday where he again admitted taking EPO between 2001 and 2003, and having been dumped by his team Cofidis, the loss of his title now also appears a formality.
"My client was interviewed for two hours by the judge. Mr Millar admitted to taking EPO," Millar's lawyer Paul-Albert Iweins told AFP after the hearing. "He accepts fully his actions. In one way that's liberated him."
"I don't think he took EPO happily. Now he's waiting to be punished by the British cycling federation. David Millar's explained that he felt huge pressure as leader of a team confronted with the obligation to produce results."
"Under normal circumstances we cannot use confidential testimony from a police enquiry," an International Cycling Union official said. "But if Millar confirms what he said, either publicly or at a court hearing, it's not necessary to wait for a verdict in the proceedings."
If Millar is stripped and Rogers becomes the title-holder, Germans Uwe Peschel and Michael Rich would also be promoted in the history books, with Peschel up to silver and Rich to bronze.
Millar came under investigation after empty Eprex tablets - a commonly used form of EPO - were found in his home in Biarritz, and he reportedly admitted to L'Equipe what he had done.
"I'd dreamed of becoming world champion and I'd achieved it but I cheated," Millar reportedly said. "I wasn't proud of using drugs, I wasn't happy. I'd become a prisoner of the person I'd become."
Australian Michael Rogers could become the world time trial champion after Scot David Millar admitted taking the banned substance EPO.
Millar won the time trial gold medal at the road cycling world championships in Canadian city Hamilton last October, beating Rogers into second place, but he looks set to be stripped of his title after confessing that he took EPO.
Millar appeared at a Nanterre court in Paris on Tuesday where he again admitted taking EPO between 2001 and 2003, and having been dumped by his team Cofidis, the loss of his title now also appears a formality.
"My client was interviewed for two hours by the judge. Mr Millar admitted to taking EPO," Millar's lawyer Paul-Albert Iweins told AFP after the hearing. "He accepts fully his actions. In one way that's liberated him."
"I don't think he took EPO happily. Now he's waiting to be punished by the British cycling federation. David Millar's explained that he felt huge pressure as leader of a team confronted with the obligation to produce results."
"Under normal circumstances we cannot use confidential testimony from a police enquiry," an International Cycling Union official said. "But if Millar confirms what he said, either publicly or at a court hearing, it's not necessary to wait for a verdict in the proceedings."
If Millar is stripped and Rogers becomes the title-holder, Germans Uwe Peschel and Michael Rich would also be promoted in the history books, with Peschel up to silver and Rich to bronze.
Millar came under investigation after empty Eprex tablets - a commonly used form of EPO - were found in his home in Biarritz, and he reportedly admitted to L'Equipe what he had done.
"I'd dreamed of becoming world champion and I'd achieved it but I cheated," Millar reportedly said. "I wasn't proud of using drugs, I wasn't happy. I'd become a prisoner of the person I'd become."