By Susan Westemeyer Bernhard Kohl will have his hearing Monday before the Austrian National...
Bernhard Kohl (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
By Susan Westemeyer
Bernhard Kohl will have his hearing Monday before the Austrian National Anti-Doping Agency in Vienna, Austria, and he is expected to tell all the details about his use of CERA before the Tour de France. His manager also indicated for the first time that Kohl had first discussed the possibility of using performance enhancing substances earlier in the season.
The NADA is expected to announce Kohl's penalty immediately after the hearing.
"Bernhard is willing to cooperate and he will tell about the how he got the substance and how and where he used it," his manager Stefan Matschiner told Cyclingnews.
Kohl tested positive for CERA at the Tour de France. He later confessed to having used the illegal product.
According to Matschiner, Kohl actively sought out the product. "He begged the person for it and got it," he told nachrichten.at.
In his earlier confession, Kohl said that he took the CERA as a result of a crash in the Dauphiné Libéré, which led him to worry about his lack of results for the season and his ability to get a new contract for the coming year. Kohl was aware of the existence of the new drug earlier in the year. "We talked about it in March or April, I don't remember exactly, for the first time," Matschiner said. "I told Bernhard at the time, don't do it," warning him of the chances of getting caught.
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In contrast to Kohl, his former Gerolsteiner teammate Stefan Schumacher has continued to declare his innocence and denying having used doping. "At the moment there is no suspension or investigation by either the German cycling federation (BDR) or the UCI," his attorney Michael Lehner told Cyclingnews. "There is nothing to stop him from getting a license for the 2009 season from the BDR or UCI."
He continued, "With this in mind we will soon have discussions with Patrick Lefevere over the validity of the Quick Step contract." Schumacher had signed with the Belgian team for the coming season, After the announcement of his positive controls for CERA from the Tour de France, Quick Step manager Lefevere said that he considered the contract for 2009 "void."
