German Jörg Jaksche, who stirred up the cycling world with his tell-all confessions earlier this year, accepted his one year suspension for admitted blood doping and EPO use, but is hoping to have it further reduced. The rider blew the lid off the cycling's Omertà by detailing the doping practices he took part in during his career earlier this summer, and received his sentence this week rom the Austrian cycling federation.
"I can live with the one-year suspension," said Jaksche. "But I will speak with the Austrians again, as to whether I can ride again as of January and not as of July 2. After all, I have a 'cooperating witness' agreement with the WADA."
In an interview with Sport-Bild magazine, he said, "So far no team has offered me a contract. If I don't find a new team by February 2008, I will be forced to end my career. But in that case all the big talk about the fight against doping would just be worthless."
Looking at various Tour de France performances, Jaksche said that he could not comment on Alberto Contador and Michael Rasmussen because he "was not at the Tour and therefore can't judge them. But one thing is sure, there are still doping methods which cannot be proved." He did comment on Linus Gerdemann, however, noting that Gerdemann rode well one day and not the next, and said that "Gerdemann rides like one who is clean."
His advice to Patrik Sinkewitz, who tested positive this summer for testosterone was to confess. "He comes out of the same doping milieu as I did. He must lay everything open, that's the only way we will get cycling clean."
Sinkewitz is using the same attorney as Jaksche, Michael Lehner, who told the BILD tabloid that Sinkewitz also hopes to becomes a 'cooperating witness', in hopes of reducing his suspension to six months. He added that both Jaksche and Sinkewitz are hoping to sign with T-Mobile Team.
Jaksche continues to train, either around his home in Kitzbühel, Austria, or around Florence, Italy. He has put on six kilo, "which have to go!"
