Festina cyclists give drug rundown

Members of the Festina cycling team yesterday followed their confessions to French police that they had used the banned blood-boosting hormone erythropoietin by explaining why - and they implied that many other cyclists may be using the drug.

"Maybe the Union Cycliste Internationale should suspend more than 100 riders after the Tour," said the Swiss Armin Meier, who admitted on television on Friday that he had used the drug for two years. "I wouldn't be surprised if this started an avalanche. I don't believe there should be a general amnesty."

His team-mate Laurent Dufaux, a Tour de France stage winner in 1996, expressed hope that the confessions from the team ranked number one in world cycling would clean up the sport. "It would be a shame to put the lid back on, because this is still a custom practised in the field now."

The double Tour of Spain winner Alex Zulle, runner-up in the Tour de France in 1995, explained why he had used erythropoietin. "I had good results without doping but pressure from the sponsors forced me to jump the gun. It was a personal decision but pressure forced me to take the step.

"I regret lying and disappointing my fans but there was nothing I could do. I have made a mistake."

Dufaux said that, although he had initially denied using erythropoietin when he was questioned by French police, "I came to the conclusion that it was useless to deny it because the evidence was enormous".

Meier has described how he spoke through a grating in his cell to Zulle, who was in the cell next door, and his fellow Swiss said he had confessed. "They treated us like animals," said Zulle.

Dufaux added: "Yes, I did take EPO to stay in shape but it was not the product that made me win races."

Dufaux, who won the Tour of Romandie stage race in June, said on one occasion his level of redblood matter, or haematocrit, fell to 40 per cent, but he boosted it to 50 per cent using erythropoietin. The sport's governing body tests cyclists' blood thickness on a random basis, and 50 per cent is the level at which cyclists are declared "unfit to work".

Dufaux added: "I know I face a long suspension but I hope those of us from Festina who confessed will not be made into scapegoats."