“I admit my guilt, but have no regrets,” Bernhard Kohl’s former manager Stefan Matchiner told the Österreich newspaper. He’s facing a trial on charges that he helped athletes such as former Gerolsteiner rider Bernhard Kohl, triathlete Lisa Hütthaler and others to dope, and is also writing a book on the affair.
"Thus, I review my past," he said sarcastically, speaking about the pending publication. It’s reported causing some nervousness, prompting speculation that there will be some revelations in it.
Matchiner said he’ll wait a while, though. “It will certainly be held until after my trial. There might be something in it that will be a burden to me,” he said.
Kohl finished third in the 2008 Tour de France and also won the King of the Mountains classification. He tested positive for CERA and has admitted his guilt; he also said that his former manager was one of those who helped him to try to beat the system.
Kohl used autologous blood transfusions during the race but, as this is currently undetectable, he could have escaped detection had he not decided to also take the substance he was caught for. Matchiner said that he urged him to play it safe. “I told him that he should keep his fingers well away from CERA,” he stated. “But in his delusion that the entire field was using it, he took a chance.”