Confessions Continue

Her appeal came as retired Danish cycling star Bjarne Riis ended months of speculation by admitting that he used blood doping in his 1996 Tour de France win. Riis made his announcement at a news conference in Copenhagen, one day after two former team-mates from Germany's Team Telekom, Erik Zabel and Rolf Aldag, made similar confessions.

Danish cyclist Riis admitted that he was involved in doping from 1993 until 1998, including the 1996 season when he won the Tour de France.

Riis said he used a substance called EPO to boost the production of red blood cells in his body, increasing his oxygen-carrying capacity and therefore improving his endurance.

"I have taken banned substances, I have taken EPO. I bought it and took it myself," Riis said, adding that team doctors bore no responsibility for his actions.

Telekom admissions set ball rolling

Riis’ admission rounds off a week of doping confessions by two former team Telekom doctors and a number of former riders, including German cycling legend Erik Zabel, who told reporters that he took EPO competing in 1996.

Even the current sports director at the T-Mobile team, Rolf Aldag, confessed at the same press conference that he had taken EPO between 1995 and 2002.

Aldag, who admitted that he lied in the past when denying doping allegation, offered to resign over the scandal.

But T-Mobile’s team manager Bob Stapleton says Aldag now stands for clean cycling, and that he’ll be allowed to keep his job.

“I think this is an extremely healthy process. I mean, we pushed it quite hard ourselves. I think the fact we held a press conference where people knew things were going to come out, really prompted this small tidal wave of admissions. I personally believe this is fundamental to moving forward in a positive way in the sport.”

Silver lining for Ullrich?

One of the few positive developments to arise from this avalanche of scandal and admission could mean a reprieve for Germany’s most controversial cycling star Jan Ullrich.

Ullrich has been very quiet all week because he’s still facing criminal proceedings after packets of his blood were found in the offices of doping-scandal doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.

The Office of Public Prosecution in Bonn, which is handling the case, says it will review its evidence in light of the new admissions, and analysts say the charges could even be dropped.

One prosecution spokesman explained that the original case had been prepared under the assumption that the T-Mobile directors didn’t know about the doping practices -- something that’s now unclear.

Jan Ullrich retired in February after his involvement in the Fuentes scandal and has always protested his innocence.

But even his lawyer Hans-Michael Diestel said on German television on Thursday that successful high-performance sport was not possible without doping these days. A few hours later he was fired.