Convicted former agent continues pressure on ex-Rabobank rider
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As did Michael Boogerd (Rabobank).(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Michael Boogerd would always target the race(Image credit: Sirotti)
Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) leads Davide Rebellin in their two-man escape in 2004(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) in 2003(Image credit: Sirotti)
Michael Boogerd beats Lance Armstrong to the line in 1999(Image credit: Sirotti)
The pressure remains on former Rabobank rider Michael Boogerd to come clean on his alleged doping practices, this time with former agent Stefan Matschiner specifically calling him out.
Boogerd is been named as having been involved in the HumanPlasma blood doping programme, as well as the general Rabobank team doping which has been uncovered. He most recently said that before he speaks out, he first wants to see what his teammates say.
"Because if I'm the only one saying what I know, I will soon be the scapegoat." Boogerd has admitted to meeting in Vienna with Matschiner, the man behind the HumanPlasma blood-doping scheme, but says it was only "for vitamins".
In an interview published in Thursday's Het Nieuwsblad, Matschiner says: "I want him [Boogerd] to step forward. He must stop lying."
It's a slight change of tack for Matschiner who, when previously said that he would "not betray athletes" in an interview with Dutch newspaper NRC and when asked specifically about Boogerd's alleged past said:
"Maybe you should ask Michael again," Matschiner said. "There were probably many invoices. But I guess you could have bought lots of vitamins."
In 2010, Matschiner was given a suspended prison sentence for violating Austria's anti-doping laws.
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